After frat hazing left son brain damaged, Eden Prairie family fights for accountability
"This is the most horrific hazing case of all time," said David Bianchi, the family's Miami-based attorney who has specialized in hazing cases nationwide for 30 years.
The latest suit alleges that last fall, Santulli was forced to drink an entire bottle of vodka, then beer through a tube and funnel during his initiation to Phi Gamma Delta, known as Fiji. His blood alcohol content soared to a near-fatal level of 0.468%.
There is a mountain of evidence in seized cellphones and surveillance cameras throughout the frat house, Bianchi said, that shows Santulli was left unattended and unconscious on a couch where he stopped breathing.
"You can't imagine how it could be even worse and still be alive," Bianchi said, adding that his firm has counted at least 50 hazing deaths since 2000 at U.S. colleges and universities. His cases almost always involve a fraternity and dangerous amounts of alcohol.
The Santulli case comes amid a national debate about the hazards of fraternity hazing. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chutich's daughter Olivia died in January 2021 of excessive drinking and hypothermia at Iowa State University's Delta Delta Delta sorority house.
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GJ - I could name names in WELS-ELS. It is a matter of time before death occurs there - "just developing closeness among the brothers."
