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These Penn State Fraternity Brothers Are On Trial After One Of Their Pledges Died. Here’s What You Need To Know.

   DailyWire.com

A total of 18 Beta Theta Pi brothers at Pennsylvania State University are facing charges over the death of one of their pledges. Here are the details.

According to the grand jury’s investigation, the pledge, Timothy Piazza, fell down a flight of stairs on the night of February 2. He had a blood alcohol level that reached as high as 0.36 due to a heavy amount of drinking he was required to engage in as part of the fraternity’s pledging.

Various fraternity brothers carried Piazza onto a couch and attempted to wake him up through a number of methods, including pouring liquid on face and smacking him. Two brothers pleaded to get help for Piazza, who at one point was “thrashing and making weird movements on the couch,” but such pleas were ignored. In fact, one fraternity member, Jonah Neuman, slammed Kordel Davis, one of the brothers advocating for help, against a wall and stated everything was fine.

In the ensuing hours, Piazza repeatedly attempted to move, only to fall down, causing him to hit his head on a hardwood floor, a metal railing, a door and fall down three stairs. Help was not called by the fraternity brothers until several hours after these falls had occurred, but by then it was too late, as Piazza was declared dead at the hospital. He had “a fracture at the base of his skull and a ruptured spleen” among other injuries, according to National Public Radio.

Investigators concluded that the fraternity brothers had attempted to hide their hazing of pledges in their handling of Piazza, which included a deleted text that suggested that they lie to medical personnel by saying they found Piazza behind a bar as well as other attempts “to dress him, clean blood from his face and discussed destroying evidence.” Beta Theta Pi is supposed to be a dry fraternity.

This was not the first time a Penn State fraternity member has died. In 2014, Phi Sigma Kappa member Marquise Braham committed suicide after being forced to endure incredibly rough hazing and then require new pledges to undergo these hazings, which included “being forced to choose between snorting cocaine or being sodomized; stealing; gutting, skinning and killing animals; forced physical fighting that resulted in concussions; extreme sleep deprivation; guns pointed at their heads; hot wax dripped down their backs; enormous consumption of alcohol,” according to CNN. However, a grand jury concluded that Braham “had been contemplating suicide for a very long time” and that there was no established link between his suicide and the fraternity’s hazing.

Beta Theta Pi has also previously received punishment twice, per CNN:

The first time, in 2009, the chapter was suspended for a year after it was found to be serving alcohol to minors. When it came back, it was a dry house. But in 2013, it was found in violation of the alcohol-free housing policy put in place by the national chapter.

The fraternity is now permanently banned from Penn State. The charges that the 18 fraternity members face include “eight for involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and hazing, among other charges; four for reckless endangerment and hazing, among other charges; and six for evidence tampering,” per ABC News. ABC also noted that “the fraternity itself is facing charges, including involuntary manslaughter and hazing.”

Piazza’s father, Jim Piazza, said at a press conference, “This didn’t have to happen. This is the result of a feeling of entitlement, flagrant disobedience of the law and disregard for moral values that was then exacerbated by egregious acts of self-preservation.”

The university president, Eric Barron, issued a statement that read, “The details alleged in these findings are heart-wrenching and incomprehensible. The University community continues to mourn his tragic death, but no pain we feel can begin to compare to the devastating heartbreak that Timothy’s family and friends are experiencing.”

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