Current Events > 2 charged after 19 y/o left unable to walk, talk, or see after hazing at frat

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https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/thousands-demand-justice-for-mizzou-student-left-paralyzed-after-alleged-hazing/

COLUMBIA, Mo. Two men have been charged in an alleged hazing incident that left a former University of Missouri student in a wheelchair, blind, and unable to speak.

Now, thousands of family, friends, and even strangers across the country are signing a petition, wanting more justice for Danny Santulli.

Santullis parents say he was the victim of a gross hazing incident last October. His family filed a lawsuit over the incident which says Danny was ordered to drink a liter of vodka during the Phi Gamma Deltas Pledge Dad Reveal Night. The 55-page suit details that Danny drank so much he became unresponsive.

You just dont think that those kinds of barbaric things could happen, said John Heerhold, creator of the petition. I was kind of naive to the severity of Dannys situation.

Heerhold is from just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and is behind the Demand Justice for Danny Santulli and Support the Anti-Hazing Laws in Missouri petition. As of Tuesday night, nearly 62,000 people have signed.

My daughter Bridge and Meredith Santulli are best friends and college roommates, Heerhold said. Bridget and Meredith would tell me that those that are responsible would be out and about hanging out at bars and I said that doesnt seem right to me.

Meredith is Dannys older sister who also attends Mizzou. According to the familys lawyer David Bianchi, Danny told his sister last year that he couldnt take being in the fraternity anymore.

The suit says that his sister realized that he was suffering from overwhelming depression and fatigue. After she and her parents tried telling Danny to walk away from Phi Gamma Delta, Danny said he wasnt a quitter and did not want to be humiliated and ridiculed by those who rank he was trying to join.
The lawsuit said Dannys pledge dad handed Danny the family bottle of Titos vodka which Danny was expected to consume in its entirety before the event was over.
Danny was then selected by other members to drink a beer through a tube. The lawsuit names Alex Wetzler as the brother who made Danny drink the beer. Wetzler was later charged with supplying alcohol to a minor.

Until Friday, Wetzler was the only fraternity brother charged since the incident.

Danny has to suffer the consequences maybe for the rest of his life for his decision to try to be part of this fraternity, Heerhold said. I dont think its too much to ask that those who put this event together and those that put Danny in harms way to also be responsible.
The lawsuit then went on to say that just before midnight, Danny was sitting on a couch in extreme distress and with a blood alcohol of .468%. Thats nearly six times the legal limit in Missouri.
Thirty minutes later, around 12:30 a.m., Danny slid partially off the couch and ended with his face on the floor but he had no control of his arms or legs and stayed there until someone passing through the room put him back on the couch. The lawsuit names Samuel Gandhi as the fraternity brother that left after putting Santulli back on the couch.
The lawsuit states Santullis skin was pale and his lips were blue, yet no one called 911. Instead, the decision was made to drive Danny to University Hospital in Columbia in one of the brothers cars. The lawsuit says when they arrived, hospital staff went to the car only to find that Danny was not breathing and in cardiac arrest. CPR was performed and Dannys heart was restarted.
Santulli was then rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU) and put on a ventilator. Days later, he was removed from the ventilator and able to breathe on his own, but he was still unresponsive, unaware of his surroundings, unable to communicate, and had a significant injury to his brain.

Bianchi said that the Santulli family previously sued 23 people, including the fraternity, and won their case. The lawsuit has since been amended and now includes two individual fraternity brothers: Gandhi and Wetzler.
Friday, a Boone County grand jury indicted Ryan Delanty, of Ballwin, and Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield, on felony hazing charges and misdemeanors of supplying liquor to a minor or intoxicated person. Shultz is facing an additional felony charge of tampering with physical evidence. Both have bonds set at $50,000.

Relief that there was some progress and happy for the Santulli family that they got a little bit of justice but also knowing that there is more work to do, Heerhold said. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to understand that there is an extreme injustice to Danny and the Santulli family.

Back in May, the University of Missouri said 13 students received disciplinary sanctions because of the incident but did not give specific details. Shortly after the October event, Mizzou booted the fraternity off the campus, and the house was closed.

Earlier this month, the Boone County Prosecuting Attorneys Office released a statement saying its investigation was ongoing.
With regard to the investigation of hazing at the University of Missouri, this office is currently reviewing the results of law enforcements investigation and will, if appropriate, file additional criminal charges or cases. At this time, our investigation is ongoing. I cannot comment on pending criminal cases and likewise cannot discuss possible criminal cases under review. This office takes allegations of hazing very seriously, and we are terribly saddened by the injuries sustained by Danny Santulli. This office will seek justice in this case based on the evidence and Missouri law.
The office did not respond to any phone calls Tuesday regarding the latest charges that were filed.
Heerhold said people from around the country have signed on to the petition, but he is asking for more signatures to keep the pressure on the prosecutors.
This is for Danny, thats what its all about, Heerhold said. Its about Danny.
The lawsuit also mentioned what Danny had to do for the older fraternity brothers before pledge night.
He was sleep-deprived, was having to buy things for the fraternity brothers with his own money, and was repeatedly ordered to clean the brothers rooms and bring food, alcohol, and marijuana to them at all hours of the night, the suit alleges.
During his pledging process, the suit claims Danny had been ordered to climb into a trash can that had broken glass in it, which resulted in a bad cut on his foot, and he had to go to the hospital to get stitches and crutches.
This isnt the first time Phi Gamma Delta had been in trouble at Mizzou. The fraternity has a track record of alcohol-related violations in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Less than two months before the hazing incident, Phi Gamma Delta was in violation of university policies and alcohol distribution, sanctioning the fraternity to the alcohol education program and the alcohol event probation.

Horrific incident.

If frats are going to routinely violate alcohol policies, then the University higher ups should be held equally accountable if they're not going to enforce said policies.

wackyteen posted...

with a blood alcohol of .468%

Drank so much his blood was actually 1 proof.

He would probably be begging for death, assuming he is still sentient.

Why are frats a thing again?

Kitt posted...

Why are frats a thing again?

White people who peaked in high school

Ban frats

American frats seem bafflingly insane as an outsider.

Should be attempted murder charges

Ehhh kids being kids tell em kavanaugh

Kitt posted...

Why are frats a thing again?

Because money

Annnnd stuff like this is why Ive always thought the whole culture of fraternities and hazing and shit like that was incredibly stupid, dangerous, and immature.

Glad we didn't have this shit where I am

The_Office_pwnz posted...

Ehhh kids being kids tell em kavanaugh

I like Beer.

He was "ordered" to drink it but no one forced him. Obviously this is a huge tragedy but I think the outcome of this lawsuit will disappoint a lot of people

Funkydog posted...

American frats seem bafflingly insane as an outsider.

What purpose do they serve?

brotrrwinner posted...

He was "ordered" to drink it but no one forced him. Obviously this is a huge tragedy but I think the outcome of this lawsuit will disappoint a lot of people

If there is a 'rank' system then you could argue that by seniority or position the sponsor dad or whatever had a duty of care towards Danny. Doubt it'd hold up too well but you could at least make that argument.

You'd think frats would have learned by now to take precautions and have people watch out for the new guys so they don't get caught slippin with alcohol but I guess if there's no (real) punishment then they have no incentive to do so

kingdrake2 posted...

I like Beer.

Do you drink beer? I just want to know of you drink beer. That will distract from the whole date rape thing.

There's a lot of party frats that give legit frats a bad name. The frat where I went to college builds houses for the homeless and does other charity events and none of that hazing nonsense you see stereotypically. It doesn't help that the media glorifies those kind of fraternities and lifestyles as well.

Tear down all frat houses.

Its all full of elitist trust fund dipshits anyway

We had a haze gone wrong here a while back. A guy died from being forced to drink fish oil and sit in a water filled pit for hours during the haze. Dude died of sodium poisoning and hypothermia.

evilpresident posted...

We had a haze gone wrong here a while back. A guy died from being forced to drink fish oil and sit in a water filled pit for hours during the haze. Dude died of sodium poisoning and hypothermia.

yeah but he had a chance to meet college girls and drnk Natural Lite so its kind of a push.

How do you think rich people do it? Theyre awful, of course its the money.

I don't know if this was the same all over. But the frats in my school would do stuff that would be seen as gay. Note I mean this that literally, not as an insult.

One example with one frat. They made pledges use their hands to make the members happy.

So they were be homophobic in general and then do stuff like that.

wackyteen posted...

My daughter Bridge and Meredith Santulli are best friends and college roommates, Heerhold said

Hol up, this dude named his daughter Bridge?

DipDipDiver posted...

Hol up, this dude named his daughter Bridge?

It's probably short for Bridgette.

brotrrwinner posted...

He was "ordered" to drink it but no one forced him. Obviously this is a huge tragedy but I think the outcome of this lawsuit will disappoint a lot of people

It says they already won the case

A kid at my college was playing drunken hide and seek and disappeared. His body was found weeks later in a landfill and it was assumed he hid in the dorm garbage chute.

What's crazy is that essentially every billionaire elite has been part of a Fraternity.