COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- All ROTC training has been suspended at Texas A&M University following the death of a cadet, who collapsed during an apparent hazing, officials said.
Col. Donald Burton, commandant of the Corps, Friday ordered cadet training suspended until he concludes his investigation into the death of Bruce Dean Goodrich, who died Thursday.
'All forms of physical training have been suspended pending a study of supervision and the assurance that all training is properly controlled,' Burton said.
Goodrich, a 20-year-old engineering student from Webster, N.Y., died Thursday after three junior cadets got him out of bed at about 2:30 a.m. to run across campus and do 'motivational exercises,' university spokesman Jeff Alford said.
Members of the Corps were to wear black arm bands today at the football game between the Aggies and Texas-El Paso and flags were ordered flown at half-staff.
Dr. J.C. Lee, a Bryan pathologist, said preliminary autopsy results indicated Goodrich died of heat stroke.
Bob Wiatt, director of university security, who also was investigating, said the three older cadets could face criminal charges.
He said his investigation would not be completed for at least a week until the state crime laboratory finishes its analysis on tissue samples takenfrom Goodrich's body.
Wiatt said once a final cause of death was determined, the case would be presented to a grand jury, which could consider it as early as Sept. 13.
Alford said the Corps and the university have policies banning hazing.
'There are written procedures that prohibit hazings, and every year those rules are stressed to members of the Corps,' he said. 'There's no way to really stop it unless you put an adult on every floor of the dormitory.'
Goodrich's body was to be flown Sunday to Rochester, N.Y. Goodrich was the first Aggie cadet to die in an apparent hazing incident in the Corps' history.
