Penn State Hazing Death
Penn State Hazing Death, Timothy Piazza and the other pledges being hazed in February hoped that the men of Penn State’s Beta Theta Pi fraternity would ultimately welcome them as brothers.
Instead, when Piazza’s night of binge drinking took a deadly turn, his family says, his would-be brothers treated him “like roadkill.”
The family has been outspoken about their 19-year-old son’s final hours since 18 fraternity brothers were charged in his death. The Piazzas’ latest comments were on the “Today” show on Monday.
“It was horrific. This — this wasn’t boys being boys,” the teen’s dad, Jim Piazza, said. “This was men who intended to force feed lethal amounts of alcohol into other young men …
“And what happened throughout the night was just careless disregard for human life. They basically treated our son as roadkill and a rag doll.”
On Feb. 2, Piazza and the other initiates to Beta Theta Pi had just run the gantlet, a series of stations where they had to chug wine, vodka and beer. But during the night, Piazza fell down a flight of stairs and injured his head.
After the frat brothers found him at the bottom of the stairs, one wrote on a group message that Piazza “might actually be a problem. He fell 15 feet down a flight of stairs, hair-first, going to need help.”
But they didn’t seek medical help for more than 12 hours, authorities concluded. Instead, they poured water on Piazza, slapped his face and put a backpack full of books on his back to keep him from rolling over.During some of it, Piazza was throwing up and twitching.
He had a fractured skull and a lacerated spleen. For hours, blood was seeping into his abdominal cavity.
Fellow pledge Kordel Davis said he told the fraternity brothers that the unconscious Piazza should be taken to the hospital.
“They said ‘No, you’re overreacting. You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ ” Davis recounted in an interview on “Good Morning America.” “I said, ‘I do know what I’m talking about. He could have a concussion.’ ”
Piazza tried to get up and at one point walked toward the door, but he fell and hit his head, making his injury worse.
A grand jury concluded that “the Penn State Greek community nurtured an environment so permissive of excessive drinking and hazing that it emboldened its members to repeatedly act with reckless disregard to human life.”
Eight fraternity members were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Other charges included hazing, aggravated and simple assault, alcohol-related violations and evidence tampering.
Penn State President Eric J. Barron announced beefed-up regulations for fraternities and sororities. Beta Theta Pi, once heralded as a national model for others, was permanently banned.
When a fraternity member finally called 911 a little before 11 a.m. the next morning, first responders rushed Piazza to a nearby hospital. He was then transported to Hershey Medical Center, where the extent of abdominal bleeding was so extensive that a second surgeon was summoned, according to the grand jury investigation findings released by Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller earlier this month. Neurosurgeons removed part of his skull to relieve pressure caused by the swelling of his brain.
Piazza died early the next morning.
This story has been updated.
