TOLEDO, Ohio – (AP) – Brotherhood members in Ohio who organized an alleged clouding ritual that resulted in the death of a 20-year pledge of alcohol poisoning in March were aware of how dangerous it could be, an investigation released Friday said With .
Before the party, organizers set up trash cans to vomit, told pledges to let professors know they probably wouldn’t be in class the next day and had certain drivers and members watch over them if they were drunk it says in the report.
“It shows that active members were aware of the dangers posed by the event and that new members would have to be monitored for security reasons,” according to a law firm commissioned by Bowling Green State University.
Stone Foltz, who joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity in Bowling Green, was found unconscious by a roommate after the party and died three days later.
The university announced on Friday that it had accused 21 students of violating student codes of conduct, including harassment, harm to others, and disregard for health and safety.
Eight current or former members of the Brotherhood were charged in April on criminal charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to harassment. Foltz’s parents filed an unlawful death lawsuit against the Brotherhood and some of its members this week.
Foltz died after drinking a whole bottle of bourbon – a witness said in about 20 minutes – and afterwards, according to the law firm’s investigation, could no longer walk alone. Most of the other pledges also finished a whole bottle themselves, it said.
The report found no evidence that the pledges were required to drink the entire bottle. However, it was said that there was a tradition of new members completing or attempting to complete a bottle, and Foltz felt that he had to do so as part of the pledge process.
Foltz, a business major from Delaware, Ohio, was subsequently brought to his home by two members of the Brotherhood and one more pledge.
His roommate came home and found him face down on a couch, still breathing, but he soon stopped breathing and his face and ears turned purple and blue, his family’s lawsuit said.
He was taken to hospital, received life support, and died after his family had his organs donated.