A mother is suing a fraternity for $25million after its members allegedly killed her 19-year-old son by making him drink until he passed out and then leaving him tied up for hours.
Marie Anfre has launced the wrongful death lawsuit against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat after her only son George Desdunes died in the alleged hazing at Cornell University in February.
He died in hospital after he was found unconcious on a sofa in a fraternity flat following a night of drinking – during which he was allegedly kidnapped and taken back to a fraternity house where he was bound with duct tape and zip ties.
Mrs Anfre, from Brooklyn, said members of the fraternity asked her only child a series of questions about the frat, and then forced him to drink if he got them wrong.
Mr Desdunes had already been drinking when he was bundled into a car at 1am on 25 February and taken back to a frat ouse where the hazing riutal is said to have gone on until 5am.
Members of the fraternity allegedly ‘left him to die’ – instead of taking him to hospital – after he passed out several times during the hazing.
The biology student was found unconscious on a sofa the next morning by university staff and taken to hopsital where he was pronounced dead – his blood alcohol level was still five times the legal drink-drive limit.
Frat members are also accused of removing the zip ties binding Mr Desdunes after he was found unconcious but before police arrived to hide the fact that a hazing ritual was involved in his death.
After the death some former pledges of the fraternity were charged with first-degree hazing and unlawfully dealing with a child. They deny the charges.
The fraternity was de-recognised by Cornell University and the chapter suspended by the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organisation.
Miss André filed the lawsuit at Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday.
She said: ‘With the death of my son, I find some comfort in knowing that this lawsuit may bring about changes in fraternities that will prevent other families from suffering as I have.’
He lawyer Douglas Fieberg said: ‘No person deserves the indignity of being bound and tied at the wrists, then plied with alcohol, rendered unconscious, and left to die as part of some fraternity ritual.
‘George’s death has incited Marie to join the fight against fraternities, their dangerous rituals, and their refusal to stop activities that have killed at least one student every year for the past 40 years.’
Cornell said it ‘neither condones nor tolerates hazing or the type of activities that we understand contributed to George’s death.’
‘The matter is now in litigation,†he added, ‘and we will be following it closely as it progresses through the courts.’
