Twelve new Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers are facing criminal charges in the death of Penn State freshman Tim Piazza after prosecutors reviewed surveillance footage from the school's fraternity house that had been deleted by a Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother in the wake of Piazza's death.
The FBI, which is working with local law enforcement, helped recover the deleted footage six months after the fraternity's video system was seized by State College police as evidence.
Also facing new or enhanced charges are five brothers who were already charged in the death of Piazza, according to CBS News. In all, seventeen people are facing new criminal charges, including involuntary manslaughter, hazing and providing minors with alcohol.
Newly-recovered footage shows Beta Theta Pi members forcing 18 drinks on Piazza and other pledges in less than an hour and a half on the night he sustained the injuries that would slowly kill him, according to Business Insider. That hazing ritual, called the "Gauntlet," was forced on every pledge. Some consumed between four and five drinks in as little as two minutes.
Tim Piazza, a Penn State student pledging at Beta Theta Pi, died in February. He was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, and "non-recoverable" brain trauma sustained in a fall down the stairs at the Beta Theta Pi house nearly 12 hours earlier, according to a timeline furnished by The Collegian.
After his head-first fall, Piazza was taken to an upstairs room, where members of the fraternity kicked, slapped and poured liquid on him as his abdomen filled with blood from his ruptured spleen.
Credit: Abby Drey
Credit: Abby Drey
In total, 28 fraternity brothers face charges in Piazza's death. While the most serious charges were dismissed by a judge in September, the Centre County District Attorney's office re-filed manslaughter, simple and aggravated assault charges against eight Beta Theta Pi brothers in October, per WNEP.
The Beta Theta Pi house was fitted with security cameras throughout the building, which left plenty of video evidence in the death. Tom Kline, a lawyer for the Piazza family, calls the video of Piazza’s final hours “horrible” and “gruesome.”
"No parent wants to see what is apparently on this videotape," he added.
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