Two more people were arrested in connection with the hazing death of a Baton Rouge college student who was repeatedly punched in the chest while pledging.
Kyle Thurman was taken into custody Monday by U.S. Marshals and Baton Rouge police in Port Allen, a police spokesperson said. Another person, Isaiah Smith, turned himself in on Tuesday, NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans reported.
They both face criminal hazing charges, police said.
The first arrest came Thursday when Caleb McCray was taken into custody on charges of manslaughter and criminal hazing.
The arrests stem from the Feb. 26 death of Southern University and A&M College student Caleb Wilson. Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said Wilson, 20, died “as a direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to Omega Psi Phi.” No one at the off-campus fraternity event called 911, he said.
All three suspects are current students at the school, a university spokesperson said.
Wilson and about eight other pledges were at a warehouse on Feb. 26, where they were made to stand in line as they “were each punched four times with boxing gloves by at least three individuals,” an arrest warrant affidavit for McCray says, citing witnesses.
One person punched the first half of the group, and McCray allegedly punched the second half that included Wilson, according to the affidavit. Wilson was struck four times before he collapsed and became unresponsive.
The affidavit says that Wilson appeared to have a seizure and lose control of his bodily function, urinating on himself. The pledges were moved to another room while fraternity leadership attended to Wilson, the affidavit says.
Wilson was then put into the passenger side of a vehicle and dropped off at a hospital, the affidavit states, noting that Wilson’s clothing was changed before he arrived. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Morse said that authorities were initially told that a group of males dropped Wilson off at the emergency room and stated that he collapsed at a park after he was struck in the chest while playing basketball. The group left the hospital before police arrived.
The fraternity has been ordered to cease all activities, and every campus Greek organization is prohibited from accepting members for the remainder of the academic year, said Dennis Shields, president of the Southern University System.
Omega Psi Phi said in a Feb. 28 statement that Wilson’s death was “deeply felt.”
The school launched an internal investigation following reports that the fraternity event was unsanctioned. The investigation remains ongoing.
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