A Louisiana State University student is facing criminal charges following an alleged hazing incident last month that reportedly left another student hospitalized and on life support.
Terry Reynolds II, 21, was taken into custody Monday on felony and misdemeanor charges of criminal hazing and failure to seek assistance following the Oct. 19 incident that left the unidentified student with severe alcohol poisoning.
The alleged victim was dropped off at a Baton Rouge hospital around 3 a.m. that morning by members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was described by the hospital’s staff as being unresponsive with “pink frothy foam” coming from his nose and mouth, which staff said was a sign of organ failure, according to the arrest report obtained by local station Fox 8 News.
The student was determined to have a blood alcohol concentration of .451%, which is nearly six times the legal limit in the state. He has since been discharged from the hospital.
Reynolds was reportedly arrested after authorities reviewed text messages sent between the students. The messages allegedly instructed new fraternity members to come to his off-campus home on Oct. 18 and “get hammered.” Those who showed up were allegedly ordered to drink an entire bottle of alcohol and to drink more if they didn’t finish the first bottle fast enough. Reynolds allegedly later sent out text messages asking other students to come drive the intoxicated students home.
“There’s at least 10 of them blackout they need rides,” he allegedly wrote, according to the arrest report. Medical help was never sought for any of them, authorities said.
Reynolds secured his release from the East Baton Rouge Parish jail on Monday on a $13,500 bond, jailhouse records show.
According to local station WWL-TV, this was the second alleged hazing incident involving Phi Kappa Psi that was investigated by university police in recent weeks.
The university, in a statement to HuffPost, said it takes such incidents seriously.
“Now that the LSU Police investigation has led to an arrest, the university’s office of Student Advocacy & Accountability will also conduct an investigation regarding any possible Code of Student Conduct violations,” the school said.
The incident comes nearly a year after another now-former LSU student was convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced to two years in prison for a similar hazing incident that left a student dead.
Matthew Naquin was found guilty of negligent homicide last November in the 2017 death of Max Gruver, who also had a blood alcohol level that was nearly six times the state’s legal limit when he died. The incident led to Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signing a number of anti-hazing bills into law, including the Max Gruver Act, which made hazing a felony.
The district attorney’s office and university police did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment.
