Coroner says fraternity member died of alcohol overdose

GO FUND ME

UC Irving student Noah Domingo died Jan. 12.

A Filipino American freshman at the University of California, Irving, died from "accidental acute ethanol poisoning," authorities announced March 12.

Noah Domingo, 18, had a blood alcohol level of approximately 0.331 when he died around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 12, according to a statement from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities did not receive a 911 for another six hours and responded to the home around 9:30 a.m.

The 911 caller told the operator, “Someone is not breathing. They’re not OK,” the caller tells the 911 dispatcher. “Their whole body is like blue right now.”

The caller said Domingo “just drank too much.”

However, Noah Domingo's father, Dale Domingo of La Crescenta, believes that his son died during a Sigma Alpha Epsilon “big brother night” hazing ritual.

“We have discovered the horrifying truth about fraternity hazing,” he told CBS News. “Noah was compelled to guzzle a so-called ‘family drink’ to become part of his big brother’s family. It is why fraternities openly refer to this type of ritual as being one of the deadly nights.”

Authorities were not as quick to call Noah Domingo's death was caused by hazing. “The Irvine Police Department is actively investigating this case. At the conclusion of our investigation we will present our findings to the District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether charges are warranted,” Lt. Mark Anderson said in a prepared statement.

Meanwhile, UC Irvine placed the fraternity on interim suspension pending the investigation. The fraternity’s national organization has since closed the university’s chapter indefinitely according to a statement released by the school.

________________________________________________________________________

UC Irvine fraternity suspended after student's death

NOAH DOMINGO

ASAM NEWS

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE is investigating the death of a freshman student, following the suspension of his fraternity, Los Angeles Times reports.
Noah Domingo, 18, died after an off-campus party early Saturday (Jan. 12). UC Irvine says it cannot release details about Domingo’s death because of the investigation. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the fraternity to which Domingo belonged and the fraternity hosting the party he attended Friday night, was suspended and ordered to cease all activities immediately.

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The official cause of Domingo’s death is not yet known. The Orange County coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy and preparing a toxicology report to determine the cause of his death. Dale Domingo, Noah’s father, says officials have not told him how his son died.

According to fellow fraternity member Ryan Lee, Domingo attended a party at the house of a fraternity brother on Friday night. Lee left the party, but Domingo stayed. Police found Domingo the next morning, around 9:30 a.m., in a bed in a house in the Turtle Rock Neighborhood.

Friends and family describe the Filipino American student as smart, athletic young man who tended to avoid alcohol and drugs. Paul Schilling, who was Domingo’s high school football coach for four years, said the typical portrayals of fraternity life didn’t seem to fit Domingo.

“Noah wasn’t one of those kids,” Schilling told the Los Angeles Times. “He didn’t have time to be messing around.”

Domingo played both basketball and football. The youngest of three children, he followed his older sister Briana (20) to UC Irvine in the fall. His sister says last week he was working hard to get ahead on his second quarter course work. His dream was to pursue a career in sports medicine for basketball players.

A GoFundMe campaign has been established to offset funeral expenses for the family of Noah Domingo has exceeded its goal of $10,000

The school declined to release further details but Edgar J. Dormitorio, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, wrote in an email sent to all students that it would "closely examine the larger context in which this tragedy occurred and will be working with the Greek community to help ensure that they are engaging in behaviors and practices that are in alignment with university policies and their own values."

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Asian American frat gets 2-year suspension for hazing & alcohol violations

The Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo.

ASAM NEWS

AUTHORITIES at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo have suspended the campus chapter of the largest Asian American fraternity in the country for two years, reports the campus newspaper, Mustang News.

A university investigation found Lambda Phi Epsilon forced its recruits to do knuckle push ups, late night submersion in the ocean, and consumer large amounts of alcohol. Anonymous sources told the paper the activities left them with bloodied knuckles, broken skin and even scars.

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The Tribune reports the investigation began September 28 after the campus received anonymous complaints of “systematic hazing of new pledges in recent years,” said campus spokesperson Matt Lazier. The school found the complaints to be accurate and said current and former members of the fraternity maintained the tradition of hazing. Lazier said the national chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon supports the school’s findings and actions.

“It really sucked in the moment, it was the hardest thing ever … but this is something I think everyone knows about. I know the cultural organizations haze way harder than any [Interfraternity Council] fraternity,” a source who claims to have witnessed the hazing told Mustang News.

According to The New York Times, Lambda Phi Epsilon has been connected to two deaths in the last 13 years- one at Cal Poly Pomona and the other at San Francisco State University.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Four frat members sentenced to jail in fatal hazing incident

Michael Deng (inset) and the rented house where the fatal hazing occurred.

FOUR MEMBERS of a nationwide Asian/American college fraternity were jailed for up to two years on Monday (Jan. 8) in the killing of a 19-year-old rushee during a hazing ritual. A Pennsylvania judge also banned the fraternity from the state for 10 years.

“This has proved to be the most troubling case to me in 19 years,” Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington said while issuing her decision. “Not one person out of 37 picked up a telephone and called an ambulance. I cannot wrap my head around it,”

Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, hindering apprehension and other charges in connection with the death of Baruch College freshman Michael Chun Deng in 2013.

In addition, the judge ordered the fraternity to pay $110,000 in fines.

Deng was blindfolded, forced to wear a heavy backpack and then repeatedly tackled and punched while walking through a gauntlet as part of the fraternity’s initiation ceremony in a rented home in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in 2013.

Deng was knocked unconscious and later died at a hospital – but not before the boys attempted to cover up the crime while he lay dying, a grand jury later heard. They didn't call an ambulance because of the cost.

Kwan received 12-24 months in county jail. Lam and Wong were sentenced to 10-24 months each. Lai, who spent 342 days in jail after he was unable to make bail, was sentenced to time served.

RELATED: Asian American frat found guilty in hazing death

Last month, dozens of other fraternity members present at the hazing were given probation of varying lengths.

All four defendants showed remorse and apologized, some of them tearfully.

The judge and a prosecutor slammed Pi Delta Psi for calling itself a victim of rogue fraternity members, saying the fraternity tolerated and even encouraged hazing for years.

“It’s the epitome of a lack of acceptance of responsibility. It’s their rituals and functions that led us here today,” Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Kim Metzger said in court.
Patti-Worthington and a prosecutor slammed Pi Delta Psi for calling itself a victim of rogue fraternity members.

“It’s the epitome of a lack of acceptance of responsibility. It’s their rituals and functions that led us here today,” said Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Kim Metzger.

Pi Delta Psi has 25 chapters in 11 states, including one at Penn State University that will now have to be disbanded.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Fraternity members plead guilty, sentenced to probation for hazing death

NBC

The property where the hazing death of Michael Deng (insert) occurred.

Fourteen former members of an Asian/American fraternity were sentenced to probation Wednesday, (Nov. 29) after pleading guilty to reduced charges in the hazing death of a young man pledging to Pi Delta Psi.

They joined the 15 other young men who plead guilty Tuesday (Nov. 28).

On Tuesday, 17 defendants appeared in Monroe County Court of Common Picas in Stroudsburg, Penn. Tuesday (Nov. 28) to accept responsibility in the tragic death of Chun "Michael" Deng, 19, who died while undergoing one of the fraternity's initiation ceremonies.

As the result of plea bargains, all 29 of them plead guilty to reduced charges and sentenced to  The harshest punishment was meted out to Andy Meng, brother of Rep. Grace Meng. As former president of the fraternity, he received a stiffer sentence of 36 months probation.

“You are better than this,” Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington told the group. "Be individuals and do the right thing going forward. Don’t get caught up in group think.”

Some of the members pleaded guilty to charges including concealing or tampering with evidence. Others admitted to simple assault and lying to police.

Most of the members were sentenced to between 12 and 18 months on probation except for Meng and another defendant. Ka-wing Yuen received 5 years probation, 100 hours of community service and a $100 fine.

The four Pi Delts who pleaded guilty in May to more serious charges will face sentencing next week. Punishment will likely include time behind bars.

Last week, the fraternity was convicted of charges including aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter but acquitted of third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, both felonies.

In a ritual called the "glass ceiling" which was meant to teach the pledges of the bias they would face in society, Deng passed out after running the gauntlet of fraternity brothers who would hit, tackle or trip the pledges. The 2013 hazing of the New York's Baruch College students occurred at a rented  home in the Pocono Mountains, about 100 miles west of New York City.

During the incident, Deng was blindfolded, wore a 30-pound (14-kg) backpack and ran a gauntlet of fraternity members who tackled and knocked him down on the snow-covered ground in December 2013, police said.

The college students waited for more than an hour before driving him to a hospital, authorities said and that delay contributed to his death.

Rather than seeking help for Deng, who remained unconscious, the fraternity brothers reportedly Googled head injury symptoms and researched the cost of an ambulance before determining it would be too expensive. They allegedly called fraternity officers for advice on what to do.

Although deaths from fraternity hazings have occurred at several American colleges, prosecutors and defense lawyers said it was the first U.S. conviction of a fraternity for a death caused by hazing.

UPDATED Nov. 30 to include the second day of sentencing.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Asian American frat found guilty in hazing death

PI DELTA PSI, an Asian/American fraternity, has been found guilty in the 2013 death of a student participating in the frat's hazing rituals.

The fraternity was convicted Tuesday of five felonies and two misdemeanors in the death of Chun Hsien "Michael" Deng who died in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

Chun 'Michael' Deng

The fraternity was acquitted of the two most serious charges, third-degree murder (involving a willful, wanton disregard for the potentially fatal consequences of one’s actions on someone else) and voluntary manslaughter (a heat-of-the-moment killing).

Deng, 19, who attended Baruch College in Manhattan, was pledging to Pi Delta Psi when he died during a December 2013 retreat at a rented house in the Poconos. 

Blindfolded and wearing a weighted backpack, Deng was forced to walk in the backyard in the early morning hours through a gauntlet of fraternity members who allegedly pushed, shoved, and tackled him in an attempt to bring him down, according to court records.

RELATED: Fraternity on trial for hazing death

Deng died from his injuries after fraternity brothers waited too long to contact authorities after the 18-year old  lost conciousness. It took a hour before the frat brothers brought him to a hospital. A forensic pathologist said the delaysignificantly contributed to his death, according to court documents.

Four frat brothers, Kenny Kwan, 28, Charles Lai, 26, Raymond Lam, 23, and Sheldon Wong, 24, have already pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter as accomplices and hindering apprehension for concealing evidence, according to the Monroe County District Attorney's Office. The four men were originally charged with murder. Their sentencing is slated for December.

With a future sentencing date being scheduled for the fraternity, the prosecution plans to seek the maximum penalty of a fine and the fraternity being banned from any Pennsylvania college campuses.

The Asian/American fraternity was founded at the State University of New York’s Binghamton campus in 1994. Pi Delta Psi has 25 active chapters and five inactive colonies (aspiring chapters) on college campuses in 13 states including Pennsylvania.

________________________________________________________________________

Asian American fraternity on trial for hazing death

Guilty: Clockwise from top left, Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong.

ASAM NEWS

A national Asian American fraternity is on trial in the deadly hazing of a pledge in 2013.

Pi Delta Psi is accused of being criminally negligent in the death of Michael Deng who died of brain trauma and the suspected cover up that followed.

“Thirty four, there were 34 members that acted together in the hazing that resulted in the death and cover-up; 29 hours that passed between the time he was brought to the emergency room and his passing,” prosecutor Kimberly Metzger said in opening arguments, according to the Pocono Record. 

“Eighteen, he was 18 when he died. Six pledges (the chapter) has brought to the Poconos since 2010. Four, how many they brought (this time). Two, the hours of delay between (Deng) not getting up and receiving medical attention; and for one dead pledge.”

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The defense attorney, however, pointed the blame at the local chapter.

“Pi Delta Psi has an anti-hazing written policy since 2001,” he said. “The colony didn’t follow the rules. It’s supposed to use the national policy. The pledge educator was over his head and improperly informed.”

New York’s Baruch Colony chapter became inactive, following the death.

WBRE reports several police officers testified in the opening day of the trial.

Fraternity members are also expected to the take the stand. The trial is expected to last one week.

Four of the men who had been charged with murder — Kenny Kwan, 28; Charles Lai, 26; Raymond Lam, 23; and Sheldon Wong, 24 — appeared in court May 14, when they pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and hindering apprehension after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. Sentencing for these four men will be on Dec. 4.

(Views from the Edge contributed to this report.)

______________________________________________________________________________

Fraternity hazing death: Asians are the loneliest Americans

"ASIANS are the loneliest Americans." The haunting line rings true for Asian/Americans trying to find a place to fit in in the American mosaic.

An article, "What a Fraternity Hazing Death Revealed About the Painful Search for an Asian-American Identity" by Jay Caspian Kang for the New York Times, is about the death by hazing of Chun Michael Deng, a college freshman struggling with identity and who was seeking membership in an Asian/American fraternity based in Baruch College, NY.

His quest for acceptance ended up in his death in 2013. He died from his injuries after fraternity brothers waited too long to contact authorities after the 18-year old  lost conciousness during a hazing ritual.

Kenny Kwan, 28, Charles Lai, 26, Raymond Lam, 23, and Sheldon Wong, 24, pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter as accomplices and hindering apprehension for concealing evidence, according to the Monroe County District Attorney's Office. The four men were originally charged with murder.

Chun Michael Deng

More than 30 other fraternity members are awaiting court proceedings in connection with the death after a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, grand jury recommended charges. The fraternity, Pi Delta Psi, is also charged with murder, and is scheduled to begin trial this November, according to court documents.

In the New York Times, Kang writes:

Asians are the loneliest Americans. The collective political consciousness of the ’80s has been replaced by the quiet, unaddressed isolation that comes with knowing that you can be born in this country, excel in its schools and find a comfortable place in its economy and still feel no stake in the national conversation. The current vision of solidarity among Asian-­Americans is cartoonish and blurry and relegated to conversations at family picnics, in drunken exchanges over food that reminds everyone at the table of how their mom used to make it. Everything else is the confusion of never knowing what side to choose because choosing our own side has so rarely been an option. Asian pride is a laughable concept to most Americans. Racist incidents pass without prompting any real outcry, and claims of racism are quickly dismissed. A common past can be accessed only through dusty, dug-up things: the murder of Vincent Chin, Korematsu v. United States, the Bataan Death March and the illusion that we are going through all these things together. The Asian-­American fraternity is not much more than a clumsy step toward finding an identity in a country where there are no more reference points for how we should act, how we should think about ourselves. But in its honest confrontation with being Asian and its refusal to fall into familiar silence, it can also be seen as a statement of self-­worth. These young men, in their doomed way, were trying to amend the American dream that had brought their parents to this country with one caveat: "I will succeed, they say. But not without my brothers!'

Good stuff, right? For most of us, as we float between the worlds of black and white, trying to find out where we fit in, uncertain that we can fit in. Some of us take on the characteristics of African Americans, appropriating their slang, music and dance; others lean towards Latinos, learn some Spanish words, dance the salsa and wear their colors; still others, become bananas or coconuts, taking on the attributes, clothing styles and listen to the musical icons of the dominant culture. 

It's a long read, well written and contains some interesting insights. It's worth some of your time this weekend.

________________________________________________________________________________