theGrio

Back to the Top

Main menu

Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content
  • Home
  • Entertainment
    • Music
    • The Dish
  • Health
    • Ask Dr. Ty
    • Black Men’s Health
    • Black Women and Breast Cancer
    • Back to School Health
  • Living
    • Travel and Leisure
    • Living Forward
    • Books
  • Politics
    • Perry on Politics
  • Sports
  • News
    • Good News
  • Opinion

News

Police: Hazing of Robert Champion took place at FAMU professor's home

by theGrio | March 28, 2012 at 3:59 PM
Comments
Print
robert-champion.png

Related Posts

  • Report: FAMU ignored hazing rules before Robert Champion death
  • FAMU says it's not responsible for Robert Champion hazing death
  • 4 more charged with hazing at FAMU
  • 13 charged in hazing death of FAMU band member Robert Champion
  • Robert Champion case: Charges expected in FAMU drum major's hazing death

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Witnesses told police that two Florida A&M University faculty members were present as band fraternity pledges were hazed at the home of one of the professors in early 2010, according to an investigative report released Wednesday.

Authorities said no charges will be filed because investigators cannot prove the Kappa Kappa Psi hazing happened within a two-year statute of limitations. The case has been closed.

The Tallahassee Police Department report says band director Julian White told campus police about the allegations on Nov. 21 after another faculty member brought them to his attention.

That was two days after the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion while the March 100 band was in Orlando for a football game. Champion suffered from blunt trauma while aboard a band bus and died from shock due to severe internal bleeding. His death is being investigated as a homicide. No arrests have been made.

Champion’s death was just one in a series of hazing events involving the FAMU band.

Witnesses to the 2010 incident told police that fraternity members repeatedly slapped pledges on the back or neck, known as “prepping” and “necking.” One pledge, whose identity was not disclosed in the report, told police his buttocks were bruised because he also was paddled with a thick piece of wood.

Officer Shane Porter lists Diron Holloway, the band’s director of saxophones, and Anthony Simons, an assistant professor of music, as suspects in his report.

“Through investigation it was determined hazing did occur at faculty member Diron Holloway’s residence,” Porter wrote.

The anonymous victim told Porter that about 14 pledges, several fraternity members and the two professors ate a spaghetti dinner at Holloway’s home before the hazing began. He said Holloway joined in the prepping and necking.

Asked if he participated in prepping, Holloway told an investigator: “It’s possible to say that I did do something under the circumstances of all of them coming in at once, maybe I did do something.”

Holloway did not immediately respond to a telephone message and email seeking comment Wednesday. Simons declined comment when reached at his office. He also declined to speak with police and hired a lawyer, the report says. A university spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Holloway denied participating in padding and told police it may have happened “outside or in some garage area.”

Asked why he didn’t stop it, Holloway said he did but added: “I should have said ‘Enough of that, the party is over.’”

State Attorney Willie Meggs’ office declined to prosecute because of uncertainty by the witnesses over when the hazing happened. There’s only a two-year statute of limitations for misdemeanor hazing. It’s three years for felony hazing, but that requires proof of great bodily harm, which wasn’t present in this case.

Porter blamed the statute of limitations problem on the lengthy delay in getting the investigation started. Tallahassee police found out about it only through media reports on Jan. 20, two months after White had notified campus police. A FAMU police report indicates the matter was referred to city police because the alleged hazing occurred off campus, but Porter wrote that he could find no record of the case being forwarded.

White initially was fired after Champion’s death, but he later was reinstated and placed on administrative leave. White has maintained that he tried to crack down on hazing including suspensions of band members and repeatedly told his superiors about it.

The report says White reported the 2010 incident after another faculty member said one of his students told him of being paddled as part of the his fraternity initiation.

Porter wrote that he met with the student who was willing to talk about what happened but wanted to remain anonymous and didn’t want anyone prosecuted.

Other pledges, some now officers of the fraternity’s FAMU chapter, were reluctant to cooperate until they received subpoenas.

Henry Nesbitt then told investigators that neither Simons nor Holloway put a hand on him but that a band member once hit him with a mallet at practice. Zachary Walker told officers he only got necked a couple times at Holloway’s home by members of the band’s woodwind section as punishment for failing to correctly recite information he was supposed to memorize. Nesbitt declined comment Wednesday. There was no answer at Walker’s phone number.

As a result of Champion’s death, Florida A&M has suspended the band, canceled a summer band camp and stopped students from joining campus groups during the spring and summer semesters. The university also is offering research grants on hazing and has formed a fact-finding committee of national experts to look into the problem.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

  • bill-lee-exits-4x3.jpg
    Next Story:

    Source: Sanford police chief, state attorney made Zimmerman 'no charge' call in person

  • Jesse OwensOriginal Name: James Cleveland Owens(Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)
    Previous Story:

    London subway stops named for Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis

Filed in: News, Top Stories | Related Topics: Death, FAMU, Florida A&M University, Fraternity, Hazing, Hazing Death, Kappa Kappa Psi, Marching Band, Professor, Robert Champion
  • Learn about our User Panel

    Read More
  • New Stories on theGrio

    • Family: woman murdered while on the phone with 911 Family: woman murdered while on the phone with 911
    • Op-ed: GOP’s ‘mad men’ fail to woo black voters Op-ed: GOP’s ‘mad men’ fail to woo black voters
    • Tyrese and Ludacris: ‘We want Halle’ Tyrese and Ludacris: ‘We want Halle’
    • Rapper Chief Keef arrested…again Rapper Chief Keef arrested…again
    • Zoe Saldana, Nina Simone and the erasure of black women in film
    • Lawyer: No background check done on Michael Jackson doctor
    • Holy hologram! RIP rappers making a comeback
    • GOP leaders say Obama impeachment talk premature
  • What Your Friends Are Reading

  • More from theGrio

More Stories on theGrio

Top News

Politics

  • Children play ball in front of a giant portrait of former president Nelson Mandela in a park in Soweto, South Africa, Sunday, March 31, 2013. Mandela remains in a hospital while he receives treatment for a recurrence of pneumonia. Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj says there are no updates on 94 year old Mandela since an official statement Saturday on his condition. That statement reported the anti-apartheid leader was breathing without difficulty after having a procedure to clear fluid in his lung area. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

    Obama to visit South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania

  • 2014 could be a banner year for black candidates

  • Supreme Court won't get involved in Mississippi redistricting

  • Obama to Morehouse grads: Set an example

» Read More in Politics

Business

  • cash-16x9.jpg

    Payday loans: A debt trap in disguise

  • Tiger Woods makes a comeback on the course, and in video game sales

  • A timeless classic: Top career lessons from ‘The Great Gatsby’

  • Boyz II Men appear in new Old Navy commercial

» Read More in Business

Living

  • Alia Jones-Harvey

    Young black producer shakes up Great White Way

  • Essence, MSNBC unite for live coverage of the 2013 Essence Fest

  • Black anti-abortion activists see 'houses of horror' everywhere

  • Charmin bear charms autistic boy

» Read More in Living

Inspiration

  • Graduate Frederick Anderson stands in the pouring rain as President Barack Obama acknowledges him during his Morehouse College 129th Commencement ceremony address Sunday, May 19, 2013, in Atlanta. After a difficult childhood Shelton graduating Phi Beta Kappa and is on his way to Harvard Law School. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    Obama speech makes Morehouse grads 'proud'

  • Twins named Spelman valedictorians

  • DC Central Kitchen helps people struggling to join workforce

  • Man refuses to let disability hamper ability to teach

» Read More in Inspiration

Entertainment

  • Plaxico Burress (center) at his luxury line launch event on Friday, May 19th. (Image courtesy of www.plaxicoburresscollection.com)

    Plaxico Burress launches luxury sock line

  • R&B singer Sammie talks new music and growing up in the industry

  • 'Motown' star delivers as Diana Ross

  • D-Wade grants girl's prom wish

» Read More in Entertainment

News

  • U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

    Beam her up: Gabby Douglas is back in the gym

  • Slain LGBT mayoral candidate's family demands answers

  • NYC: No racial motivation in stop-frisk tactic

  • Cops: Men burst in, beat up disabled veteran in Philly

» Read More in News

Main menu

Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content
  • Politics
  • Living
  • Video
  • Inspire
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • News
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise with TheGrio
  • About
©2013 NBCUniversal
Powered by WordPress.com VIP