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Penn State fraternity and 18 of its members are charged in student's death
A Penn State University fraternity pledge had toxic levels of alcohol in his body and was badly injured in a series of falls, authorities said Friday in announcing criminal charges for his death against 18 members of the organization and the fraternity itself.
The grand jury said the fraternity was heavily stocked with booze for the Feb. 2 ceremony at which Piazza, a sophomore engineering student, and 13 others accepted pledge bids. The pledges were pressured to run a "gauntlet" of drinking stations that required them to chug vodka, shotgun beers and drink wine, according to the grand jury.
Piazza fell down a long set of steps that night, and fell several other times, injuring his head, Miller said. The next morning he fell down the same steps a second time, and was unconscious when help was finally summoned. Piazza, from Lebanon, N.J., died Feb. 4 at Hershey Medical Center.
When a fraternity brother insisted Piazza needed medical help, he was confronted and shoved into a wall, the report said. When the same brother insisted again that Piazza required help, he was told others were biology and kinesiology majors so his opinion wasn't as valuable as theirs, the jury said.
The eight defendants facing more serious charges were scheduled to appear before a judge later Friday to be arraigned and have bail set. That will occur for the other defendants next week, Miller said. Five of them face only a single count each of evidence tampering