Ten members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Louisiana State University were issued arrest warrants by LSU police after the death of freshman pledge Maxwell Gruver, according to NPR.
LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard said in an email that the students turned themselves in to LSU police on Wednesday.
Police said Gruver’s death was connected to a drinking game the fraternity called “Bible Study,” where pledges were quizzed on fraternity facts and told to drink when they answered incorrectly.
All 10 members were charged with hazing. One of them, Matthew, was also charged with negligent homicide. The charges are allegations, and no one has been convicted.
Accounts of the incident date back to Sept. 13. According to the school newspaper, The Daily Reveille, witnesses said they noticed Gruver was highly intoxicated after midnight and laid him on a couch before leaving. The next morning he was found motionless and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Reveille reported Wednesday that East Baton Rouge Coroner William “Beau” Clark said Gruver’s death was an accident caused by acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration, and that Gruver’s blood alcohol level was .495.
LSU said it has stayed in contact with Gruver’s family and kept them updated on the arrests. LSU President F. King Alexander said the arrests underscore that hazing can be devastating, adding that Gruver’s family “will mourn his loss for the rest of their lives.” The university had removed the Phi Delta Theta chapter from campus in September.
