Community Chat

[chessygal]

at Southern University in Louisiana   Such a tragedy and so unnecessary.  It breaks my heart.

[Still Raining]

Way too young to be gone.  Looks like individuals are being charged.  Some news say that his body was 'dropped off' elsewhere, to be found.  Alone.

[San Antonio Gal]

So awful this happened.  I read no one called 911.

Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Thomas Morse Jr. told reporters at a briefing that Caleb Wilson "died as a direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to Omega Psi Phi fraternity." 

[shoesnbags]

---

@Still Raining wrote:

Way too young to be gone.  Looks like individuals are being charged.  Some news say that his body was 'dropped off' elsewhere, to be found.  Alone.

---

@Still Raining 

No, some fraternity members took him to the hospital, but lied about what had happened and where.  The hazing took place in a warehouse, but at first they told authorities that he had collapsed in a park playing basketball.  In reality, he had a seizure after being punched in the chest four times as part of the hazing.  They waited a long time before actually taking him to the hospital. 

ETA One arrest has been made, other arrests are expected.

[Rockycoast]

One would think that with this death, and others that have happened,  Hazing would be banned.  How heartbreaking for the family.  Glad I never wanted to join a sorority when in college.

[lgfan]

Hazing is banned. Fraternities and sororities, though, are still doing them. There have been court cases in the past concerning hazings. Students are still getting hurt.

[Cakers3]

I believe the Max Gruber (sp) Law makes this a felony.

Whether a person agreed to be hazed doesn't matter. Death is death.

I believe the perpetrators can receive up to 40 years in prison.

[Iwantcoffee]

The young man who died was Caleb Wilson. Caleb was a junior majoring in mechanical engineering at Southern University and A&M College and a member of the marching band.

[Happy2BHere]

ITA such a sad death and so unnecessary. I can't imagine the pain his family is going through without him. With losing him they also forever lost all their dreams for his future and what he could accomplish in his life, and that has to be so hard to come to grips with. He was their "Star".

I read a news article that said the person punching him was wearing boxing gloves. I don't know enough about boxing gloves to know if boxing gloves would cause more damage with 4 punches to an unprotected chest than 4 closed fist punches would, but I do know any hard punch directly to your chest can be dangerous (as it was in this case). I even remember stories of people dying after being hit in the chest with a ball while playing baseball.

I still just can't grasp why they would proceed to incur pain - just to be included? And that proves...exactly what???

Hopefully this tragedy will finally end this practice completely, but Wiki shows this sad info about hazing: 

"There has been at least one university hazing death each year from 1969 to 2021. Over 200 university hazing deaths have occurred since 1838, with 40 deaths between 2007 and 2017 alone. Alcohol poisoning is the biggest cause of death.