UT cops cite 12 in 'butt chugging' case

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Police investigating how a student became ill after "butt chugging" alcohol say they have cited members of a Tennessee college fraternity for underage drinking.

University of Tennessee police said they discovered beer cans, bags from wine boxes and a number of passed-out students inside the Pi Kappa Alpha house on the Knoxville campus, the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Eleven students and a visitor were cited by police for underage consumption of alcohol. One student also was cited for disorderly conduct.

Campus and Knoxville police were alerted after 20-year-old UT student Alexander P. Broughton was brought to the University of Tennessee Medical Center about 1:15 a.m. Saturday suffering from alcohol poisoning.

Hospital staff said the student was unresponsive and had a blood alcohol content of more than 0.40 percent, more than five times above the level at which a person is considered legally intoxicated.

One of the four students who brought Broughton to the hospital told doctors said Broughton has been "butt chugging," in which a plastic tube is inserted into a person's anus and alcohol is poured down the tube into the rectum.

It is wrongly believed that a person can get drunk that way without alcohol becoming evident on the breath.

The fraternity's parent organization condemned the "unfortunate and extremely dangerous practice" by the Knoxville chapter.