Student fell, hit head at Penn State frat party

PENNLIVE.COM VIA AP Jim and Evelyn Piazza stand by as Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller announces the results of an investigation into the death of their son Timothy Piazza, seen in photo at right, a Penn State University fraternity pledge, during a press conference May 5 in Bellefonte.

Piazza was found unconscious on a couch on the main floor when paramedics arrived after a call for help.

"It's heart-breaking all around", she said. The next morning, he fell down the stairs again. "No parents should have to deal with this". We have also seen a rise in the intensity of excessive drinking and hazing at Penn State and elsewhere, despite more than a decade of focus and the introduction of educational and other programs, as well as policies that clearly spell out consequences. A county grand jury investigation led to the charges. "That it emboldened its members to repeatedly act with reckless disregard to human life".

"Text messages and a chat group called "we f- moms" revealed members allegedly asking about buying alcohol, including for pledges, and collecting money for their so-called 'slush fund, '" reported NBC which added that "during the pledge night event, the recruits were required to drink various types of alcohol at stations as part of a contest known as 'the gauntlet'". The fraternity itself is facing charges including involuntary manslaughter and hazing. Eight of them were arraigned on Friday afternoon, while the rest are scheduled to be arraigned next week, prosecutors said. Most were released on bonds of $100,000. Conditions include no drinking or use of non prescription drugs and no out of state travel unless approved by the court.

Charges against the 18 fraternity members range from involuntary manslaughter to furnishing alcohol to minors and evidence tampering. Parks Miller said Piazza was a pledge of the fraternity and attended a party at the frat house on February 2.

Fraternity leaders have "clearly and consistently expressed its position that it does not tolerate hazing or alcohol abuse in any form by its members", they said.

The grand jury, aided by security camera footage, said the fraternity was heavily stocked with booze for the February 2 ceremony at which Piazza, a sophomore engineering student from Lebanon, N.J., and 13 others accepted pledge bids.

Piazza's blood alcohol content was determined to be between.26 and.36 percent at one point during the night by a forensic pathologist. Police say he laid in the house for about 12 hours before anyone called for help.

Security camera video in the frat house helped prosecutors describe what happened to Piazza.

Later video showed Piazza on a couch, unresponsive even as fraternity brothers poured water on his face, his left arm falling limply when someone lifted it, according to the grand jury presentment.

During the next 42 minutes, fraternity brothers shook him, tried to prop him up, covered him with a blanket, wiped his face and tried to dress him but were unsuccessful "due to the stiffness of Timothy's body".

In the last moments of footage recounted in the grand jury's report, fraternity members appeared to realize the fatal mistakes they had made. Piazza died at the hospital.

"I've said this before: This didn't have to happen".

Prosecutors also claim there was an effort to hide and destroy evidence. Fraternity brothers and the pledge class testified to those falls as well.

Young later directed that one of the messaging systems be deleted. He was discovered in the basement at about 10 a.m.

Kline also referred to Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach convicted of sexually abusing young boys over a period of at least 15 years.

The fraternity has also been banned for life on the Penn State campus.

President of Penn State, Eric Barron, said the university had brought in new stricter rules for fraternities after the incident.