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18 Students Charged in Penn State Hazing Death

V

Violence Jack

Member
Searched, and didn't see a thread on this:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-fraternity-18-students-charged-connection-pledges/story?id=47226888

Eighteen Pennsylvania State University students and a former fraternity at the school are facing charges in connection with the death of Beta Theta Pi pledge Timothy Piazza, who died after falling down stairs at the frat house during a pledge ceremony, a prosecutor said this morning, as she released new details in how the deadly night unfolded.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller announced the results of the grand jury investigation this morning, three months after the Feb. 4 death of Piazza, a 19-year-old Penn State sophomore.

Eighteen Penn State students are facing charges: 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. The fraternity itself is facing charges including involuntary manslaughter and hazing.

On the morning of Feb. 3, police were called to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house, where Piazza was found unconscious, about 12 hours after he fell down the stairs. Piazza was hospitalized and pronounced dead in the early hours of Feb. 4, according to the Centre County, Pennsylvania, grand jury investigation report released today.
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I don't want to generalize about all frats, but hazing still seems to be a problem at a lot of campuses around the country. RIP to this poor kid.

EDIT: Click on the link to read the entire article as it was too long to paste the entire thing here. They left this kid unconscious for 12 hours without care looking for a way to weasel out of it.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Throw the book at them. They basically killed the dude with their negligence and bull shit.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
They waited 12 hours to call 911 and didn't mention he fell down stairs.

Fuck these guys.

I hear a guy that wanted to get help was hazed too.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
A lot of the stuff in that report is stretching the limits of "involuntary" manslaughter.

I mean, dude texted that they should wait until morning and pretend they found him outside a bar and called for an ambulance immediately because "his health was paramount". That sounds to me like someone who knew exactly what they were doing wrong and what the possible consequences of doing so were.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Gallbaro said:
College needs to stop treating students like adult day care.
Click to expand...

.

It feels like college is where you go to break down all the structure and discipline you learned in high school with the hopes you get built up again by the time you graduate (and don't end up dead or in jail).

You're 18 and should be treated like a fucking adult.
 
R

RinsFury

Member
From the article they actively contributed to his death by not getting him help and trying to cover up what happened. Disturbing. They all need to see jail time.
 
O

Ogodei

Member
BronsonLee said:
WE ARE
going to jail
Click to expand...

dead2.gif
 
R

RyanW

Member
I'm so glad my fraternity doesn't do stupid shit like this. Hazing does nothing. There are other ways to make the experience mean something
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
RinsFury said:
From the article they actively contributed to his death by not getting him help and trying to cover up what happened. Disturbing. They all need to see jail time.
Click to expand...

Death caused by reckless hazing by a culture that thinks it is fun is bad enough.

Waiting to call 911 for 12 hours means you can get fucked.
 
O

Oreoleo

Member
Wow the amount of negligence on display from the rest of the fraternity is STAGGERING. I recommend clicking through to the article, OP leaves out a ton of details and makes it sound like he died from falling down the stairs when in reality he'd still be alive if the other frat members weren't enormous pieces of shit. Some of these guys need to be behind bars for a long, long time.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Yeah, more detail into it looks like he fell down the stairs of a basement, no one saw it but they could hear it. They tried to wake him up there and then took him back upstairs with no response from him. At some point he physically got up and somehow got to the basement opening again. The frat guys felt him feeling cold and pale.
 
R

RedNalgene

Member
The article has a ton more info. These guys should get fucked. They basically killed this kid by not getting him to the hospital asap. Then tried to cover it up.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
Violence Jack said:
Searched, and didn't see a thread on this:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-fraternity-18-students-charged-connection-pledges/story?id=47226888



I don't want to generalize about all frats, but hazing still seems to be a problem at a lot of campuses around the country. RIP to this poor kid.
Click to expand...

Generalize away, out of all the campuses I've been too hazing is pretty much an issue at every frat even when they say they don't haze and the administration prides itself on not having hazing. Obviously not every frat has hazing and not ever hazing is as bad as this but I wouldn't shed a tear if I saw frats disbanded across the country. Breeding grounds of toxic masculinity bullshit.

Sororities are better but not by much.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
RedNalgene said:
The article has a ton more info. These guys should get fucked. They basically killed this kid by not getting him to the hospital asap. Then tried to cover it up.
Click to expand...

The worst part is one of them already started plotting to cover it up pre-emptively. Like, I can almost understand if he dies as the result of an accident and you try to hide it because you're scared, but when you say, "We'll just cover it up tomorrow morning" you're making it blatantly clear that you know you're fucking up right now and choosing to do so.
 
V

Violence Jack

Member
Psychoward said:
Generalize away, out of all the campuses I've been too hazing is pretty much an issue at every frat even when they say they don't haze and the administration prides itself on not having hazing. Obviously not every frat has hazing and not ever hazing is as bad as this but I wouldn't shed a tear if I saw frats disbanded across the country. Breeding grounds of toxic masculinity bullshit.

Sororities are better but not by much.
Click to expand...

I don't want them all to disappear. I joined a service fraternity that does community projects like feeding the homeless, after school tutor programs, hosted kids nights, cleaning the highway, etc. There was also no hazing either. You just had to memorize the fraternity's pledge and take a quiz on what was in the pledge book. We would have the occasional college party, but they never got out of hand.

When I pledged a "regular" frat, I ran like hell. The only party I went to of theirs, cops were called to break up drunken fights, one of the frat members beat his girlfriend, alcohol everywhere, etc. Just didn't seem like it was fun at all.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
Violence Jack said:
I don't want them all to disappear. I joined a service fraternity that does community projects like feeding the homeless, after school tutor programs, hosted kids nights, cleaning the highway, etc. There was also no hazing either. You just had to memorize the fraternity's pledge and take a quiz on what was in the pledge book. We would have the occasional college party, but they never got out of hand.

When I pledged a "regular" frat, I ran like hell. The only party I went to of theirs, cops were called to break up drunken fights, one of the frat members beat his girlfriend, alcohol everywhere, etc. Just didn't seem like it was fun at all.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah service and business related frats are fine, it's just the social ones that have been a mess at literally every school I've been to. The reason hazing and date rape become associated with frats is because it's so fucking prevalent.
 
R

Rembrandt

Banned
Hazing is so trash. It's a dumb tradition. Brotherhood and all, it's a horrible way to instill loyalty. Frats have their undeniable benefits but that whole system is long overdue for a restructuring.

Violence Jack said:
I don't want them all to disappear. I joined a service fraternity that does community projects like feeding the homeless, after school tutor programs, hosted kids nights, cleaning the highway, etc. There was also no hazing either. You just had to memorize the fraternity's pledge and take a quiz on what was in the pledge book. We would have the occasional college party, but they never got out of hand.

When I pledged a "regular" frat, I ran like hell. The only party I went to of theirs, cops were called to break up drunken fights, one of the frat members beat his girlfriend, alcohol everywhere, etc. Just didn't seem like it was fun at all.
Click to expand...

Regular frats do community service and all of that, along with grade requirements.
 
G

GoldenEye 007

Member
Rembrandt said:
Hazing is so trash. It's a dumb tradition. Brotherhood and all, it's a horrible way to instill loyalty. Frats have their undeniable benefits but that whole system is long overdue for a restructuring.
Click to expand...

The frustrating thing is Beta Theta Pi internationally has been at the forefront of trying to reform the system. They get a lot of recognition from it. They have not shied away from shutting down historic chapters over hazing issues and bringing in people that help instill building up people versus breaking them down.

But add in a combo of old alumni influence, self governance, and youth, you can end up with hazing situations.

Social fraternities have their issues, but there are those out there working to take out the Animal House narrative.
 
W

wisdom0wl

Member
12 HOURS?!

Jesus. These idiots are ruining it for the rest of us. God damnit. I know every fraternity has their own traditions and ways about going through things, but damnit. Tighten up the pledging process even if it means losing some of that tradition. Get rid of the fuck heads while you're at it. This animal house culture needs to be finished. /rant

Deaths. Are. Not. Worth. It.

Also, fuck these kids. Charge em with the highest then ban the whole fraternity.
 
S

ShironRedshift

Member
And these dumbfucks have the gall to cal each other "brothers". What if that was one of them on the floor--is the frat itself more important than each other? If it were them in that position instead, would they really rather the others cover it up than try to save their life? But no, of course these idiots don't even consider that because they care more about themselves than one of their "brother's" lives. So much for fraternity--they don't begin to understand what that word actually means. All of these guys can get tossed.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
WedgeX said:
RinsFury said:
From the article they actively contributed to his death by not getting him help and trying to cover up what happened. Disturbing. They all need to see jail time.
Click to expand...
Maybe they can plead that they learned it at school?
Click to expand...

The sad thing is that probably did factor into it.

Disgusting.


Violence Jack said:
I don't want them all to disappear. I joined a service fraternity that does community projects like feeding the homeless, after school tutor programs, hosted kids nights, cleaning the highway, etc.
Click to expand...

Protip: You can organize a club/group/etc. to do that, without it being a "frat."
 
N

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Sounds like too many drunk people and people who didn't understand the extent of his injuries. From the article I read it really seemed like no thought he was anything but overly drunk and passed out until the next day.

The cover-up is bad and they should for sure be convicted of that. Manslaughter will be hard to prove.

Surprised this shit doesn't happen more often with all the binge drinking at colleges.

Sad for his parents.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
NervousXtian said:
Sounds like too many drunk people and people who didn't understand the extent of his injuries.
Click to expand...

--->

RinsFury said:
From the article they actively contributed to his death by not getting him help and trying to cover up what happened. Disturbing. They all need to see jail time.
Click to expand...

Imperfected said:
The worst part is one of them already started plotting to cover it up pre-emptively. Like, I can almost understand if he dies as the result of an accident and you try to hide it because you're scared, but when you say, "We'll just cover it up tomorrow morning" you're making it blatantly clear that you know you're fucking up right now and choosing to do so.
Click to expand...



NervousXtian said:
The cover-up is bad
Click to expand...

Tell that to Joe Paterno.
 
W

watershed

Banned
Frat culture is disgusting and, in this instance, fatal. Frats are everything wrong with masculinity in a nutshell.
 
R

RS4-

Member
Lock them all up and leave them there. Solitary, the works. Fucking garbage school, administration and defenders.
 
M

MooseKnuckles

Banned
maruchan said:
In other penn state news..

Jay Paterno, 2 others elected as Penn State alumni trustees
http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/education/penn-state/board-of-trustees/article148861159.html
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I don't know if this has been taken out of context, but this;

"Our nine alumni-elected trustees are steadfastly committed to transparency and to holding those accountable for the blatantly wrong and cowardly actions that unnecessarily cost Penn State hundreds of millions of dollars and significant reputational harm"
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Suuuuuuuure does read like they still couldn't give less of a shit about the actual victims and completely refuse to recognise the institutional issues that allowed Sandusky's abuse to occur.

Penn State culture seems like an absolute disaster all around - the story in the OP is just terrible
 
Andrew Korenchkin

Andrew Korenchkin

Member
I have always hated hazing, always. Its degrading, disgusting, myopic, and completely inane. Such a shame that this ended in death. Throw the book at them.
 
T

TheBaldEmperor

Member
I read this earlier today and couldn't begin to wrap my head around what transpired. The lack of care and dudes preventing others from getting him help... Makes me sick. I'm just in agony hearing the details of his final hours...
 
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