Mother Sues Fraternity for $25 Million Over Son's Alleged Hazing Death
Corrected: A college fraternity has been slapped with a $25 million lawsuit over the death of a Cornell University sophomore in an alleged hazing ritual gone awry.
George Desdunes, a 19-year-old first generation Haitian-American student, was allegedly kidnapped by freshmen pledges, blindfolded, tied up with duct tape, and forced to drink so much alcohol that he passed out and later died, ABCNews.com reported.
Desdunes, an aspiring doctor, was pronounced dead Feb. 25 from alcohol poisoning at an area hospital. His blood alcohol level was .409—more than five times the legal limit, according to the suit.
Desdunes’ mother, Marie Lourdes Andre, said she hoped the lawsuit would bring about changes in fraternity hazing practices that would spare other families from going through what she has.
Her lawyer, William Friedlander, called it a “terrible tragic” incident. “[Desdunes] was a really great kid,” he said.
The fraternity in question, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, has more than 240 chapters and nearly 300,000 initiates. After Desdunes’ death, Cornell withdrew its recognition of the fraternity for five years.
SAE said in a statement that it has a “zero-tolerance policy” for members who don’t adhere to its anti-hazing policies. “There’s absolutely nothing this organization endorses or publishes that would be an endorsement for hazing,” a spokesman told ABCNews.com.
Updated at 4:20 p.m. to correctly state that Desdunes was a sophomore.
Correction
Updated at 4:20 p.m. to correctly state that Desdunes was a sophomore.
