ALBANY, NEW YORK — Five fraternity brothers have been charged with first-degree hazing after their participation in an initiation led to the death of 19-year-old University of Albany student, Trevor Duffy, late last year.
On November 15th, 2014, the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was conducting its annual initiation ceremony, where pledges were instructed to drink a 60-ounce bottle of alcohol over the course of the night. Duffy was told to drink Belvedere vodka, but drank so much he ended up on shower floor, with his fraternity "big brother" Keith Rosengarten monitoring him. When a female student, Emily Uezyoga, walked in to see her friend on the ground, she said Rosengarten told her Duffy "was fine, and just sleeping." But when she returned an hour later, Duffy's lips had turned bluish-purple and he was drooling.
When she told the other frat boys to call 911, Uezyoga says the men argued about whether that was a good idea, and decided to carry him outside so that the police wouldn't enter the fraternity house.
At the hospital, Duffy's blood alcohol level registered at 0.583. He died two days later from anoxic encephalopathy, a condition where the brain is deprived of oxygen and ceases to function.
Two of the men charged, 20-year-olds Olaf Jablonski and Yuval Sucov, were former students of the university. Along with Jonathan Maldonado, 21, Stephen Villa, 22, and Rosengarten, 20, the men now face Class-A misdemeanor charges as a result of the death.
Trevor Duffy's parents are suing the university for $55 million in damages, believing the school should have prepared new students better by advising them of the dangers of hazing at fraternities.
According to university officials, this chapter of Zeta Beta Tau was stripped of recognition in 1997, but has maintained an underground presence ever since.
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