Five members of a US fraternity have been charged with the third degree murder of a new member during his initiation.
Chun ‘Michael’ Deng, 19, died after being tackled to the ground and knocked unconscious while carrying a 30lb rucksack during the ‘hazing’.
After the incident in 2013, the members of Pi Delta Psi frat waited an hour to drive him to hospital, in which time they were allegedly ‘concealing or destroying evidence’, according to the charges.
At hospital doctors found Deng had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, chest and legs. He later died from his injuries.
A total of 32 other members of the fraternity – which has now been permanently excluded from Baruch College in New York – face charges. These include aggravated assault, hindering apprehension, hazing, and providing false information to law enforcement.
After his death, Deng’s family realised a statement saying they would be pursuing the wrongful death case against the frat ‘so that other parents will be spared the loss of a precious child’.
