Louisiana State University fraternity is suspended over suspected hazing incident after a male student was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning and a female student committed suicide on the same night
A fraternity chapter at Louisiana State University has been suspended over allegations of hazing following an incident in which a male student was rushed to a hospital suffering from alcohol poisoning, and a female student took her own life.
LSU officials on Tuesday suspended the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity chapter, barring its members from hosting meetings and social events, pending an investigation into potential violations of the university's Code of Student Conduct.
A Baton Rouge prosecutor has confirmed that police have launched a criminal investigation into a possible case of illegal hazing.
LSU has suspended its Phi Kappa Psi chapter (fraternity house pictured) pending a police investigation into a possible hazing incident on Monday involving a student's hospitalization
Just hours after the Phi Kappa Psi member left a fraternity gathering and headed to his female friend's home at Arlington Cottages and Townhomes to spend the night, the woman was found dead as a result of suicide
The developments surrounding the suspension of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter were announced a day after the LSU student's hospitalization, followed just hours later by his female acquaintance's suicide at an off-campus apartment building, as The Advocate first reported.
The incident began unfolding on Sunday night, when Phi Kappa Psi held a gathering that lasted late into the night.
In the early hours of Monday morning, one of the fraternity brothers, identified only as an alumnus of Jesuit High School from New Orleans, left the event and headed to a woman's apartment at Arlington Cottages and Townhomes, where he had planned to spend the morning.
Instead, he was rushed to the hospital to be treated for severe alcohol poisoning.
Several hours later, the hospitalized student's female friend was found dead inside her apartment. The coroner's office ruled her death a suicide.
As of Wednesday morning, the deceased student has not been publicly named. Her mother told The Advocate that she is 'looking for answers' in her daughter's death.
District Attorney Hillar Moore said the portion of the case concerning Phi Kappa Psi appears similar to that of Max Gruver, an LSU freshman who died in 2017 after a night of coerced drinking at another fraternity house.
Phi Delta Theta is banned from the LSU campus until at least 2033 because of the events leading to Gruver's death.
A Baton Rouge prosecutor has likened the latest suspected hazing incident to the case of LSU freshman Max Gruver, who died in 2017 after a night of forced drinking at Phi Delta Theta
'This case looks unbelievably similar to the Gruver case. There are a lot of parallels, with one exception: Everyone who has been questioned so far is cooperating with the investigation,' Moore told news outlets.
Gruver, from the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia, had been at LSU for a month when he died of alcohol poisoning in 2017.
Matthew Naquin, of Texas, was convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced in November 2019 to five years in prison in connection with the Gruver case, but a judge suspended half of the prison term.
In the latest incident, Moore said officials are interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence to determine whether the circumstances meet the criminal definition of hazing that was enacted by the Legislature following Gruver's death.
That law makes hazing that kills someone a felony, requires schools to teach students about hazing, and calls for fines on organizations that knowingly allow hazing.
This marks the second time in just over a month that Phi Kappa Psi has come under scrutiny. On September 14, LSU Police launched an investigation into another alleged hazing incident that was reported a day prior.
