A Louisiana State University student who is a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity has been charged with hazing after a freshman fraternity member's recent hospitalization for alcohol poisoning.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that Terry Pat Reynolds II, 21, of Shreveport, La., was arrested on counts of felony and misdemeanor criminal hazing, along with failure to seek assistance. The university also will conduct its own investigation into any fraternity-related violations of the Code of Student Conduct.
Reynolds held the position with the fraternity of New Member Educator, according to his arrest warrant.
The arrest comes after an investigation into a freshman's hospitalization for severe alcohol poisoning on Oct. 19 after a night of partying with his fraternity brothers off campus. After the gathering, the freshman visited a young woman's off-campus apartment, where some of his fraternity brothers saw that he needed help and brought him to Baton Rouge General Medical Center.
The freshman was hospitalized in critical condition with a blood alcohol content of .451 — almost six times the legal limit to drive — following a night of partying with fraternity brothers that left him unresponsive and foaming at the mouth, with his organs shutting down.
Hours after his hospitalization, the female student whose apartment he had visited died by suicide.
The freshman has since recovered and was released from the hospital.
Felony criminal hazing is a new law in Louisiana, enacted after an LSU freshman died following a 2017 hazing incident at Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
