In June, Piazza family attorney Tom Kline told CBS News the family hasn't decided whether they'll be in the courtroom when the surveillance videos are played. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Frat member found dead at accused Idaho killer's former university, Bowling Green reaches $3.9M settlement over student's hazing death, University investigating hazing within football program, Virginia Commonwealth University to allow school-brand beer on campus after frat hazing death, died from injuries he sustained as one of 14 pledges at a bid acceptance party. Stupid yes, but they just don't fit my idea of evil. And what happened throughout the night was just careless disregard for human life.". The next morning, fraternity members located Piazza, unconscious, in the basement. DiBileo and 15 other fraternity brothers spent over 10 hours in court listening to evidence. As NPR's Bill Chappell reported at the time, charges were pressed against 18 members of the fraternity, including eight who were charged with involuntary manslaughter. I agree with both of those things. He seems to want to use it that way, and is manipulating the media to do so. everything that happened after he regained consciousness (although it sounds like he may have already been in debilitating pain by this point) could have been prevented if they had just given 2 shits about a person that they called a brother. He can't protect himself from the alcohol and the injuries, and it goes on and on until he dies, and then they don't render aid at that point. And you actually say that "people need to take responsibility for their actions" yet excuse these animals? Enter with a mindset for conversation, not debate. Nonetheless, we d not typically try to blame the victim in order to exonerate the perpetrator in these cases, because that just perpetuates a climate in which those crimes are allowed to happen and perpetrators feel secure that they won't be blamed. Dr. Harry Kamerow said he used video evidence and medical records to establish that Piazza's fall at 11:22 p.m. down the basement steps caused his fatal brain and spleen injuries. He was just trying to join an organization. Any one of these members could have called for help. His brain had swollen to the point that roughly half of his skull had to be removed to relieve the pressure. That little rant you went into wasn't cool at all. Before emergency assistance arrived, the brothers wiped blood from his face and attempted to dress him, but his body was too rigid to successfully put clothes on. The most serious offenses include involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, while others are charged with hazing or alcohol violations. That previous footage allegedly depicted Piazza, severely under the influence, falling head-first down the stairs at about 11 p.m. and falling again around 5 a.m., hitting his head against a metal railing. One person even recommended that help be contacted but was ignored and he was left on a couch. Another 11 frat members are already facing similar charges. Join Vimeo Graphic video footage of the night Piazza Another 11 frat members are already facing similar charges. The legal system is mostly consequentialist simply because letting judges and juries decide which defendants are 'nice people at heart' and let them go, is exactly how lynch mobs and rich, pillar of the community rapists got away with a slap on the wrists or less. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Former attorney Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial continues with closing arguments: Watch live. Prosecutors claim fraternity members Please enter valid email address to continue. Maybe he didn't need to go to an event where he knew there would be drinking, but it's doubtful he expected to be forced to drink as much as he was or that he could have possibly been making rational decisions a few drinks in. Of the accused young men, eight face involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and hazing, among other charges; four face reckless endangerment and hazing, among other charges; and six face charges for evidence tampering. The video includes Piazza consuming nearly 20 drinks in 90 minutes. I just don't like the way this kids parents have acted at all. Make me see why the Piazza parents are not complete assholes. Scicchitano said Piazza had a visible bruise on his abdomen on the footage while being carried by brothers after the fall. Piazza was at the Penn State University fraternity for a pledge event in February when he died after falling down a flight stairs. But until recently, that did not include the basement, where Piazza was found the next morning. This isn't a mistake, it's murder. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Parks Miller, whos leaving office at the end of the year, then refiled many of the charges. Prosecutors allege Piazza was forced to drink excessively before falling and hurting himself. "The visions of him lying in a hospital bed battered and bruised and on life support make no sense. More:16 students face judge in Penn State hazing death of Timothy Piazza, More:'He looked like a corpse': Video shown of Penn State pledge after fatal injuries. While I don't disagree with your overall premise, rationality largely goes out the window at the death of a loved one - particularly when it's a child. His parents saying he was perfect, and making it sound like he was kidnapped and tortured is misleading, and could lead to unfair punishments for a number of kids who made a horrible mistake. It would be nearly another six hours before an ambulance was called for Piazza, who died with traumatic brain injuries and a ruptured spleen. The new charges are based on surveillance footage that authorities managed to recover after a frat brother deleted it. The footage, by all accounts, is disturbing. Scicchitano said one of the members of Beta Theta Pi already facing charges in connection to the death of engineering student Tim Piazza deleted the footage, but he did not identity that individual in court, PennLive.com reports. His tragic death made national headlines after it was revealed that frat members didn't alert authorities until about 12 hours after he fell down the stairs. Ad Choices, Video surveillance from Pennsylvania State University fraternity house shown in court - WNEP. Reach him at: justin@cbsnews.com. The footage was collected by 12 cameras positioned throughout the house, the Inquirer reported. "However, after later examining one of the DVR surveillance boxes, State College Police uncovered evidence that the basement camera footage had actually been manually deleted just as State College Police were poised to take possession of the recording equipment.". Security footage shows brothers slapping Piazza in the face, punching him in the stomach, and pouring beer on him, but he remained unconscious and unresponsive. Alexandersen said fraternity brothers were "intensely" watching the video of Piazza writhe in pain on the floor in the hours after his fall. "Ems kept looking straight ahead," the report said. "As it relates to my client, we didn't hear a lot. Plus I have been open to other view points when they have been raised. There was no premeditation, no joy in his suffering, I see more evil in the dad who wants to take revenge on the men in the fraternity to be honest. Penn State's former Beta Theta Pi fraternity house now sits empty. I think they're acting like distraught parents struggling to cope with the death of their son even if it means distorting reality a bit and choosing to see his son in the best of lights and his frat brothers in the worst. Everybody so far has been talking about either how the parent's actions are justifiable in their grief, or that the fraternity is responsible for intentionally trying to cover up his injuries and delaying medical treatment after he fell. hey, how about you let me know what you would do if you were Piazza except instead of dying, you live and you must live the rest of your life unable to move from the neck down? "A young man died unnecessarily," District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller (center) told reporters. According to several reporters live-tweeting the surveillance footage from that night and early morning, it was hard to watch. I don't know, a lot of humane sensible things. Tim then woke up the following morning still alone and attempted to move. Over the course of 42 more minutes, the video footage shows them hauling Piazza back upstairs, shaking him, and attempting to prop his limp body up on the couch. He got up and tried to reach the front door but fell head first into it, knocking himself unconscious again. Centre County Report. Build a site and generate income from purchases, subscriptions, and courses. Gene J. Puskar/AP He was estimated to have had a blood-alcohol level several times the legal limit for adult drivers. A response like yours is why I feared posting this. I mean, this is a very speculative statement at best. PennLive.come reports State College Police Detective David Scicchitano was on the witness stand for nearly 10 hours during the hearing. This might not be as bad as consciously deciding to delay medical treatment, but this is still something the fraternity brothers should be culpable for. And to answer your last questionno I would not file charges or sue. (CBSN). And the frat basically did everything they could to ignore him, until they couldn't, at which point they tried to cover up what they did. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. How is that murder? In the fourth day of a preliminary hearing in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, State College Police Detective David Scicchitano testified that authorities recovered a surveillance camera from the basement of the fraternity house, but footage prior to Feb. 6 had vanished. Not calling 911 immediately is what changed that story, from a crazy night where he drank too much and a lesson for future endeavors to his death. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. "A young man died unnecessarily," she said. Would you sue or press charges? Some time later, Piazza regained consciousness and rolled off the couch. 7:45 p.m. Piazza was seen on his hands and knees in before we start calling them 'kids' and letting them off the hook for killing people. Video footage from the fraternity's extensive surveillance system has been crucial in the case and helped prosecutors construct a timeline of events that led to Piazza's death. You are asking them to think and act rationally about this, and that is something that is very difficult for grieving people to do. Advertisement Now we get into our first example of negligence, when they blew off the brother who could tell something was wrong a short time after the accident. BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- (WNEP) -- Investigators say a Penn State fraternity pledge's slow death at a frat party was caught on cameras. His lawyer did not return a message seeking comment. He did not reveal the name of the member in question. To review Hyatts claims that he conducted daily, face-to-face evaluations of patients, investigators pulled roughly two months of video surveillance footage from the hospital, records indicate. When you get somebody into an environment where they have seemingly no way out, where every authority figure is encouraging or forcing you to drink and nobody would help you, say, leave and go home safely, it is extremely difficult to turn down drinks. I see the frat members as stupid, not evil. Again normal people would have called for medical assistance seeing as he is still unresponsive or at least have a person watch over him but they left him. Ed Gilmartin was there. Scicchitano described scenes where Piazza was unconscious. The charges filed Monday which range from involuntary manslaughter to aggravated assault and hazing rely on surveillance footage taken during the pledge event connected with the 19-year-old's death. Surveillance video played in court reportedly shows Piazza repeatedly falling, passing out and tumbling head-first down a flight of stairs, and no one called 911 for hours. They bought and served absurd amounts of alcohol to a minor. Piazza, who was left on a first-floor couch overnight, made severalattempts to get up but fell multiple times,in some cases hitting his head and falling down the stairs. He drank an incredibly high amount of alcohol and fell down the basement stairs and was unconscious. Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller charged 10 new defendants, reinstated charges against two people whose cases had been dropped and added counts against five who had previously been charged for actions surrounding the Feb. 4 death of Beta Theta Pi pledge Tim Piazza. 16 students face judge in Penn State hazing death of Timothy Piazza, 'He looked like a corpse': Video shown of Penn State pledge after fatal injuries, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. They used this power not to keep him safe but to encourage him to drink to the point where even if he hadn't injured himself he would have almost certainly been hospitalized or died of alcohol poisoning. Lawyers for the victim's family described the video as "gruesome.". Seems like they don't realize he chose to be involved in this group and event. A judge presiding over the preliminary hearing, which began in June, will decide whether there is enough evidence to send the case to trial. "It really is difficult to watch.". The Centre County District Attorney announced on Monday that the FBI has recovered video footage from the night before 19-year-old Timothy Piazza's death. But the hazing was not the unconscionable part of what happened, and it wasn't what led to his death. Gabe Gutierrez, an NBC News correspondent, said via Twitter that the courtroom was silent as prosecutors played video of Piazza dying. Piazza received "at least 18 drinks in over 1 hour and 22 minutes," Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said at a news conference Monday, and he "never once obtained any of those drinks for himself. Investigators say his blood alcohol level was between .28 and .36. Gary DiBileo Jr. of Scranton left the Centre County Courthouse without knowing when he'll be back and if the charges against him will go to trial. I mean, that's the whole point of this subreddit. / CBS News. Its unclear whether the camera was in a position to capture one of Piazzas several falls during a night of drinking. But the hazing was not the unconscionable part of what happened, and it wasn't what led to his death. from Tim was in no way responsible for or a part of this behavior. He had to have more than half his skull removed to relieve the massive pressure built up from all those head injuries. Timothy is accountable for over consuming alcohol (under severe social pressure from his Brothers, which could easily be argued as coercion). One of the main revelations from the footage: Fraternity brothers gave Piazza at least 18 drinks in one hour and 22 minutes. His "brothers," could have handled it better, but it is clear his parents taught him no accountability, and have no idea what it is themselves. I just wanted to have a conversation. Video on a camera insidea Penn State fraternity house was erasedtwo days after a pledge died followinga night of hazing and heavy drinking, a detective testified Thursday, according to media reports. "Not going to lie, this footage is pretty tough to watch," Alexandersen tweeted, around the same time Snyder reported the courtroom was silent. It was estimated that he had .40% BAC and a lethal BAC is roughly .30%-.40%. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said fraternity brothers gave Piazza 18 drinks in under one hour and 22 minutes. It took nearly twelve hours for them to make the call for help. They are grieving parents looking for something to explain why their son has been killed. In May, a grand jury revised that assessment, calling it "the direct result of encouraged reckless conduct." The reason why hazing works, and why hazing charges exist, is because peer pressure is an extremely powerful motivator. What these people chose to do was make it worse and try to hide the fact they were breaking campus rules at the cost of a fellow members well being. Piazza died as a "direct result of the extremely reckless conduct of members of the Beta fraternity," aided by the permissive atmosphere fostered by Penn State's Interfraternity Council, the grand jury found. Of course the fraternity should be punished. No other parents have acted like this when they have lost their child in similar fashion. Piazza, of Lebanon, New Jersey, died from injuries he sustained as one of 14 pledges at a bid acceptance party that included a hazing ritual known as the gauntlet, requiring participants to drink wine, beer and vodka in rapid succession. Clearly, he is dead weight." Not every tragedy is a crime, said Ems lawyer, Bill Brennan. In partnership with He too live-tweeted. This was men who intended to force-feed lethal amounts of alcohol into other young men. He's black out drunk and stumbling around, and he's just left alone? Tim Piazza (center) is pictured with his parents, Evelyn and James. Piazza, a 19-year-old sophomore from New Jersey, died after tumbling down a flight of stairs and fracturing his skull during an alcohol-fueled pledge ritual at the Beta Theta Pi house on Feb. 4. Her successor Bernie Cantorna has not said whether or not he intends to proceed with the prosecution.". He suffered severe head trauma and a ruptured spleen from the fall. 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