Former Penn State fraternity president and vice president, Brendan Young and Daniel Casey, were sentenced to two to four months in prison for their roles in a hazing ritual that resulted in the death of student Timothy Piazza. Piazza died after consuming large amounts of alcohol during a fraternity event in 2017. Young and Casey pleaded guilty to hazing and reckless endangerment charges.
The hazing event involved Piazza consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, resulting in falls and ultimately his death. Young, as president of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and Casey, as vice president, facilitated the hazing event that led to Piazza’s tragic death. The incident sparked widespread outrage and led to reforms in school policies regarding hazing.
Piazza was a promising engineering student who died as a result of the extreme hazing rituals at the fraternity house. Security camera footage showed Piazza consuming large amounts of alcohol, struggling, and eventually falling multiple times. Fraternity members failed to seek medical help for him until the next morning, leading to his untimely death.
The Piazza family played a significant role in pushing for the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law, which imposes stricter penalties for hazing incidents. The tragedy also led to the closure of Penn State’s Beta Theta Pi chapter and sparked initiatives for fraternity and sorority reform at the university. Young and Casey’s sentencing is seen as a step towards justice for Piazza’s family, but the loss of Timothy continues to have a lasting impact.
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