As reported by The Nicholls Worth, the death of a young student during a homecoming parade, due to the hazing practices of the Epsilon Beta fraternity, is the subject of a lawsuit filed by his grieving parents.
The suit names the Nicholls State University, the University of Louisiana System and the Epsilon Beta chapter of the Kappa Alpha order of fraternities. It was filed on September 23 in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.
Parents W.T. and R.T. attest that their underage son, N.T., 19, died due to alcoholic beverages and illicit recreational drugs that were given to him by fraternity members. They also allege that members of the Epsilon Beta chapter routinely provided such items to underage members.
The illegally dispensed substances were handed out before the beginning of the University homecoming parade that was scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
Once the parade began, N.T., perched on the Epsilon Beta float, fell off, was crushed, and suffered with injuries to his abdomen and chest.
Per State Police N.T. died approximately four hours after the start of the parade, at about 2:40 p.m., at the Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.
A month later it was revealed that N.T.'s blood alcohol level was three times over the state's legal limit to drive, and, was coupled with Valium.
Valium is a drug prescribed for the treatment of anxiety.
At the time of his death, N.T. was the fraternity secretary, a sophomore majoring in history, and had previously made his home in New Orleans.
The suit states that N.T. was "wrongfully 'hazed'" and was coerced "to drink alcoholic beverages at certain homecoming activities throughout the day of September 25, 2010, forcing him to 'chug' large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time during the Nicholls State homecoming parade and to further ingest illicit recreational drugs."
The Kappa Alpha has published policies in regards to alcohol, drugs and hazing. The suit contends that the Epsilon Beta chapter failed to follow procedure, prevent its members from participating and encouraging hazing behavior, keep both alcohol and drugs off of its parade float and follow the policies governing homecoming activities.
The University is also cited for its failure to follow and enforces its own policies on drug and alcohol usage, follow safety measures for floats/trailers, and prohibit the consumption of alcohol or drugs on floats/trailers.
One policy is that the fraternity was to apply for a permit to participate in the homecoming festivities - but the University failed to require them to.
Lastly, the law enforcement personnel employed by the University failed to prevent illegal drug and alcohol consumption and to supervise/escort the floats. University law enforcement was also named to be at fault for failure to check identification and then wrist band all of the guests that were of age to drink.
Loosing a loved one in a wrongful death scenario is doubly difficult as your pain is compounded by the thought of its prevention. Persons responsible are liable for your lifelong loss. Contact a personal injury lawyer to file your lawsuit today!