Video shows frat pledge in agony after fall

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Security camera footage played Monday at a hearing for Penn State fraternity members shows a pledge in apparent agony in the hours after falling down basement steps — and members of the fraternity he had just joined trying to physically restrain him.

Selections from the grainy footage began with 19-year-old Tim Piazza joining other pledges as they went from station to station in a drinking “gauntlet,” and Piazza soon appeared to become shaky on his feet. The video included him stumbling through the house before he was found, hours later, in the basement. By the time help was called the next day, a police official said he had the look of a “corpse.”

Piazza died days later.

The preliminary hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to send the case to county court for trial. Eighteen members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which has since been banned by Penn State, face a variety of charges, with some accused of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, while others less serious offenses. The fraternity also is accused in the death.

Members of the fraternity spent long periods sitting on his legs and taking other measures designed to limit his movement, while Piazza, of Lebanon, New Jersey, struggled to change position or get off the “great room” couch where he was taken unconscious after the Feb. 2 fall.

The camera caught him trying several times to struggle to his feet, falling over into the fetal position and eventually getting up and then stumbling head-first into a wall or door. He also was seen falling and hitting his head on the stone floor, and grabbing his head and midsection in apparent agony.