18 Drinks, 82 Minutes

Tim Piazza was a 19 year-old sophomore majoring in engineering at Pennsylvania State University. He had been a pledge of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on campus. Yet, on the night of February 2, 2017 Piazza’s life would be cut short after undergoing an hazing incident that would eventually take his life.

Piazza would intake large amounts of alcohol in an activity named the “The Gauntlet” which was apart of the initiation procedure. The Gauntlet was a step by step process where pledges were to drink a bottle of vodka, beer, and wine bags very quickly. The pledges completed The Gauntlet in two minutes.

While Piazza was intoxicated, he then would fall 15 feet of stairs steps. His new fraternity brothers would then pick him up lay him on a couch in the home, then proceed to punch and slap Piazza, who would fade in and out of consciousness. While Piazza was bleeding internally, his fraternity brothers would laugh in his face and didn’t even pick up a cell phone to call for help.

In the wee hours of the morning of February 3, 2017, Piazza would regain consciousness and would find his way to the near front entrance of the fraternity home, where he would fall and hit head-first on an iron railing. He would then wake up again and head for the front door, but he would again hit his head on the front door knocking himself unconscious once again.

Piazza’s fraternity brothers would attempt to cover up his death by deleting camera footage, cleaning blood off his face, and they would eventually call for help, but they would have waited a little too late.

When Piazza had been rushed into surgery, it was discovered that he had a ruptured spleen and class IV hemorrhagic shock. Piazza’s brain had been so swollen that some of his brain would have to be removed. His injuries had been so bad that surgeons couldn’t save him.

Tim Piazza was pronounced dead February 4, 2017 due to a night that was never supposed to happen. Almost a hundred charges of hazing and serving alcohol to minors were brought against fraternity brothers. Eight fraternity brothers received charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault, but they were dismissed by a judge, while other fraternity brothers charges had been dropped.

But, after a video of the incident on February 2, 2017 was recovered, a dozen brothers had been charged with aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter.

“It’s awful…it’s sick,” junior Alyssa Johnson said. “When you join a fraternity, you’re supposed to care for each other. It’s a bond. It’s a brotherhood. That’s a family.”

While some students find this situation shocking or surprising, other students are not.

“I mean, it’s horrifying,” senior Khivani Young said, “It’s almost like I’m not surprised, because stuff like that happens a lot.”