They were there to face charges for the hazing death of Chun “Michael” Deng. Nearly two years later, a grand jury has indicted 36 people and the fraternity on charges including murder in the latest example of what prosecutors say is a case of fatal hazing.
As part of the ritual police say members of Baruch College’s Pi Delta Psi fraternity blindfolded pledges and made them walk across a snow-covered field while carrying a backpack full of sand. They put him in a blanket, then gave him water and chocolate and put sugar on his lips to try waking him up. Twenty-seven others, including national president Meng, face charges of hazing and hindering apprehension.
The first five of 37 suspects in the hazing death of a New York City freshman fraternity pledge have appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom to face charges. It’s not immediately clear when the others will be arraigned.
In December of 2013, the victim, Michael Deng, went on a weekend retreat to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains with the Baruch College chapter of Pi Delta Psi, and never returned home. Contacted by one of the fraternity members shortly after Deng was knocked unconscious, Meng “encouraged the group to hide all fraternity items”, police said.
Eventually they carried Deng – described as “dead weight” by one brother, as “making groaning sounds, shivering”, by another – out to a car and to hospital.
Authorities said his fraternity members delayed 90 minutes before seeking medical help.
Deng fell unconscious and was carried inside the house while fraternity members called Meng, changed Deng’s clothes and did a Google search of his symptoms. The Baruch students allegedly planned to haze 4 new recruits, according to police. Following his advice, they moved all fraternity notebooks and paddles with the frat’s symbols to the trunks of their cars, according to the records.
Chen told detectives, “that’s our protocol, like, we don’t like to get our fraternity involved in to certain problems because it creates certain problems for the fraternity”.
The student accused of hitting Deng the hardest at the end of the ritual told the police, “Deng didn’t say anything when he was supposed to during the ritual and was not cooperating the way that he should have and he got the “Bros” mad”.
She also said that she would support her brother through the legal process.
What’s more, Ross said, Deng wasn’t brought to the hospital for at least an hour. Deng “had an attitude at times” and “the ritual was bad for him because of the way he acts”, fraternity member Andrew Lu told police. “Deng was subjected to repeated blunt force trauma which was applied to three different organ systems of the body to include the head, torso and thighs”. Forensic analysis determined the delay in treatment “significantly contributed to the death of Mr. Deng” and resulted in neurogenic shock.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pocono Mountain Regional Chief Christopher Wagner announced formal charges against the first five individuals. But no one even called 911 for help.
“We owe it to Michael and his family to hold accountable those who were responsible for the senseless death of this promising young man”, Wallerstein said, adding that in addition to banning Pi Delta Psi, the college had imposed a moratorium in fall of 2014 on pledging activities for all fraternities and sororities on campus.
Baruch College has said it had no knowledge about the event.