SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The parents of a California college fraternity pledge who died during an alleged hazing incident sued the fraternity and nine members, alleging wrongful-death.
The lawsuit, filed in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Superior Court by Carson Starkey's parents, Scott and Julia Starkey of Austin, Texas, names the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, its California Polytechnic State University chapter and the nine fraternity members who police alleged coordinated the hazing ritual that led to Starkey's death.
The Starkeys allege four counts of negligence and a violation of a California law known as Matt's Law that allows for lawsuits when serious injuries or deaths result from hazing. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction prohibiting the fraternity from subjecting future pledges to dangerous hazing rites, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported.
Carson Starkey, a high school honor student, was a freshman pledge of the fraternity when he died Dec. 2, 2008, after drinking at a fraternity event. He drank to the point of unconsciousness, and an autopsy revealed his blood alcohol level was between 0.39 percent and 0.48 percent, more than five times the 0.08 percent legal limit for legal driving in California and the equivalent of surgical anesthesia, the lawsuit and police reports allege.
Officials at SAE headquarters in Evanston, Ill., couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Cal Poly was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The university suspended SAE indefinitely after the death and university officials say the fraternity will likely never return to campus.
In May, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney's office criminally charged four of the nine fraternity members named in the lawsuit in Starkey's death.
