Student blind after ‘worst hazing’ ever after vodka initiation by ‘frat fathers’
A student has been left brain damaged, blind and unable to walk or talk after the 'worst hazing case' America has ever seen.
Danny Santulli, 19, was force-fed beer through a tube and told to down an entire bottle of vodka by his 'fraternity fathers' at an October party.
When the University of Missouri student passed out and went into cardiac arrest, he was dumped outside a hospital.
Now his family are seeking criminal charges against some of those involved in the incident at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in what his attorneys describe as the 'worst hazing case' America has ever seen.
The teen's mother has quit her banking job to care for him full time as he is unlikely to walk, talk or see again.
Despite suing the fraternity and 22 people over the incident no one has ever been criminally charged with hazing, however, following a review of surveillance footage and a 123-page police report, the family is now launching legal action against two of the boys involved.
According to the lawsuit, Samuel Gandhi and Alec Wetzler wanted to make the night one 'the pledges wouldn't forget' so filled the frat house with 'cocaine, marijuana and alcohol'.
The new pledges had family-sized bottles of Tito's vodka taped to their hands and were branded 'p*****s' if they stopped drinking, according to documents reviewed by DailyMail.com.
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The lawsuit also claims the boys were under caution from the school for a previous hazing incident at the time.
Wetzler has been charged criminally with providing alcohol to a minor but Santulli's lawyer, David Bianchi, told DailyMail.com the family wants him and others to be charged with hazing.
"This is the worst fraternity hazing case ever in the US in terms of injury," said Bianchi.
"You can't be any worse injured and still be alive."
The parents have settled a lawsuit with 22 defendants and the fraternity, who have now been banned from campus for repeated violations.
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On Monday, Bianchi sought in a motion to add fraternity brothers Gandhi and Wetzler in an amended petition, which was approved by Judge Joshua Devine.
According to the lawsuit, the fraternity brothers gave Danny a family-sized handle of Tito's vodka and told him to finish it throughout the night.
At that point the pledges had been at their 'beck and call' for a month as part of the gruelling hazing process which saw him having to buy things for the fraternity brothers with his own money, clean their rooms and bring food, alcohol and marijuana to them..
The lawsuit claims two nights before the incident, Danny cried to his sister that he'd had enough, but when his family told him to quit the fraternity he said he didn't want to because he 'wasn't a quitter.'
On the night of the hazing, the lawsuit says Weltzer forced him to drink a beer via a tube, then made him return to his family-sized bottle of Tito's.
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Gandhi then walked away from Santulli after initially trying to assist him when it was clear that the freshman was dangerously intoxicated, Bianchi claims.
The 19-year-old's blood-alcohol content was more than six times the legal limit for driving.
The amended petition stated that his skin was pale and his lips were blue, and they drove him to hospital rather than call 911.
Criminal charges have been filed against Wetzler for supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor.
Fraternity member, Ryan Delanty, who had been designated Santulli's 'pledge dad' at the hazing, allegedly sent a text to a friend at 10.57pm to a friend saying: "My son is dead."
The friend replied asking what had happened and Delanty answered: 'I left him'.
Delanty was previously sued along with 23 others, with the lawsuit settled for an undisclosed amount.
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