Death of Tim Piazza

Piazza was a 19-year-old sophomore engineering student at Pennsylvania State University. He was a pledge of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the university. On the night of February 2, 2017, while undergoing hazing activities for the fraternity, Piazza, on an essentially empty stomach, drank large amounts of alcohol in a short time as part of an obstacle course called "The Gauntlet", which required each pledge to drink from a bottle of vodka, drink a beer, and finally drink from a bag of wine. It later was revealed that Piazza took prescription anti-depressants, which contributed to his inebriation. The fraternity was supposed to be alcohol-free after a suspension in 2009.[2]

In this state of intoxication, he fell on the basement stairs of the house and was knocked unconscious. He was carried to a couch, where surveillance cameras captured a conspicuous bruise that bloomed on his left abdomen; however, this was shown to have originated from another one of the alcohol-fueled rush events for fraternities that Piazza had attended a week earlier.

Some time later, Piazza regained consciousness and rolled off the couch. Three brothers picked him up and placed him back on the couch. Security footage shows them poking Piazza in the face, to determine if he was okay, but he remained unconscious and unresponsive. A newly initiated fraternity chapter member attempted to render aid to Piazza, encouraging fraternity members to call 911 and get an ambulance to the house. He was shoved up against a wall and his attempts were ignored.[3]

At around 3:30 A.M on February 3, 2017, Piazza tried to get up, but once he reached a standing position, fell backward. He continued to stand up only to repeatedly fall back down. Once he was finally able to maintain balance, he staggered toward the lobby area of the house, but fell again headfirst into an iron railing and landed on a stone floor, likely incurring serious head trauma. He got up and tried to reach the front door but fell headfirst into it, knocking himself unconscious again. He later tried once more to ascend the basement stairs and was missing until several of the fraternity brothers discovered him several hours later behind the bar in the basement, cold and breathing rapidly.

It was at this point that he was carried upstairs. After several minutes of debating on what the next step should be, the conclusion was made that Piazza's injuries were indeed serious and that he would require medical attention. Before emergency assistance arrived, the brothers wiped blood from his face and attempted to dress him in effort to warm him. Soon emergency services arrived and Piazza was brought to Mount Nittany Medical Center, but was quickly transported to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center because of the severity of his injuries.

Upon arrival, Piazza was rushed into surgery, where he was discovered to have a ruptured spleen and class IV hemorrhagic shock. His brain had swollen to the point that roughly half of his skull had to be removed to relieve the pressure. The surgeons attempting to save his life deemed the injuries to likely be nonrecoverable, and Piazza was pronounced dead in the early morning of February 4, 2017. He is estimated to have had a blood alcohol content of nearly 0.40 on the night of the hazing incident.[3]

The Piazza case resulted in one of the largest hazing prosecutions in US history.[4] On May 5, 2017, following a comprehensive grand jury investigation conducted by Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, eighteen members of the fraternity were charged in connection with Piazza's death: eight were charged with involuntary manslaughter and the rest with other offenses, including hazing.

In addition to the fraternity brothers, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity itself was also charged. Its Penn State fraternity branch was closed after its president ordered it banned from campus indefinitely. As of September 2017, the fraternity and its eighteen members faced a combined total of more than 850 criminal charges.[5]

One of the fraternity brothers charged in the death of Piazza pleaded guilty on June 13, 2018, to nine charges, making him the first in the case to enter a guilty plea. Ryan Burke, age 21, pleaded guilty to four counts of hazing and five counts relating to unlawful acts involving liquor in the deadly injuries Piazza sustained following a night of heavy drinking and hazing. Burke was accused of giving Piazza a bottle of vodka at the Beta Theta Pi party. Burke admitted his role in the hazing of Piazza, which included being present for and actively encouraging a gauntlet of drinking games and an obstacle course involving Piazza and other pledges.[11]

On July 31, 2018, Burke was sentenced to three months of house arrest for his role in the hazing death of Piazza. He pleaded guilty to nine misdemeanor charges, including four counts of hazing and five counts involving unlawful acts related to alcoholic beverages. In addition to the house arrest, Burke was sentenced to 27 months of probation and was ordered to pay fines, costs, and restitution.[12]

The Grand Jury that recommended charges against the brothers also directed Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller to investigate Penn State University and their role and response to hazing. During many months of testimony from multiple witnesses, including former pledges and others with first-hand experience, the Grand Jury collected evidence about the University's response and handling of hazing across the board. The Grand Jury received testimony regarding the prior Penn State fraternity hazing related death of Joe Dado and a suicide linked to hazing pressures at the Altoona branch of Penn State. Witnesses aware of the ongoing hazing and extreme drinking over the years say they notified Penn State authorities but little was done, despite extensive records documenting the hazing, abuse, and other dangerous behavior. Pledges that testified confirmed that hazing had become routine behind the closed doors of the fraternity houses with Penn State turning a blind eye and adopting a hands-off approach.

The testimony revealed that pledges were routinely forced to drink to the extreme and potentially deadly levels, brothers would physically and mentally abuse pledges including physical violence and sleep deprivation. More extreme behaviors including sexual physical and emotional abuse and the killing of small animals were documented. The pledges were threatened if they told anyone of the activities, there would be consequences. As a result of this evidence, the Grand Jury released a scathing 236-page report regarding hazing and excessive alcohol consumption at Penn State fraternities.[13]

The Report recommended sweeping changes to Pennsylvania's hazing law and Penn State's inadequate manner of handling hazing. The Report called for the legislature to establish "Tim's Law," creating more severe punishments for hazing. It directed Penn State to strengthen their hazing policies. The report recommended a zero-tolerance policy against those who violate hazing law and the implementation and enforcement of severe restrictions for underage drinking. The Report recommended strengthening laws against furnishing alcohol to minors and that Penn State create a "pledge's bill of rights" that outlines acceptable and unacceptable behavior during the pledge process. Finally, the report recommended that Penn State establish a confidential hazing hotline.

In response to the Report's recommendations, released by District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller on December 15, 2017, on March 27, 2018, "The Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law" was unanimously approved by the Pennsylvania State Senate Judiciary Committee. Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (Republican, Benner Township) and Piazza's parents, Jim and Evelyn Piazza, introduced the bill on March 23, 2018, at the courthouse in Bellefonte.

The bill would create tiers for hazing. Hazing resulting in serious bodily injury or death would be a third-degree felony, which could include fines of up to $15,000 and imprisonment up to seven years. Hazing resulting in bodily injury would be a third-degree misdemeanor, which could include fines of up to $2,500 and imprisonment up to one year. Other hazing would be a summary offense. The bill would also establish "organizational" and "institutional" hazing categories.

"The bill has been carefully crafted because we want this to be a model for changing anti-hazing laws nationwide," Corman said. "My intent with this legislation is clear – to prevent death or serious injury due to hazing so that families, such as Tim's, never experience tragedies like this ever again."

The anti-hazing legislation was subsequently submitted for consideration in the full state Senate.[14]

On April 18, 2018, the Pennsylvania State Senate unanimously passed the bill, which would make hazing in fraternities a third-degree felony in cases of serious injury or death, and could allow universities to seize offending Greek organizations' houses.

The law is sponsored by Republican Senate Majority Leader and 34th Senatorial District Rep. Jake Corman, who worked with Tim Piazza's family to create the bill. It defines hazing as coercing an individual to participate in any illegal activity in order to join a social group, including the use of drugs and alcohol to inflict physical or emotional harm or the use of other forces such as "whipping, beating ... or extreme embarrassment".

Lawmakers named the anti-hazing legislation after Timothy Piazza.[15]

• Beta Theta Pi – Incidents
• List of hazing deaths in the United States
• Matt's Law

• Flanagan, Caitlin (November 2017). "Death at a Penn State Fraternity". The Atlantic.
• Penn State frat pledge's skin had turned gray by morning after fall, prosecutor says
• A Penn State student fell down the stairs at a fraternity — and for nearly 12 hours, no one called police
• Fraternity, 18 members charged in Penn State student’s death
• 18 Penn State Students Charged in Fraternity Death
• Swofford, Justin J. (August 2020) The Hazing Triangle: Reconceiving the Crime of Fraternity Hazing (discussing Piazza incident and critiquing subsequent antihazing law)

• Timothy "Tim" Piazza at Find a Grave
• Obituary for Timothy Piazza
• In Memory of Timothy Piazza
• Charging documents
• Criminal complaint
• Hank Nuwer's List of Deaths by Hazing
• Grand Jury Report