A Washington, D.C., man is suing Kappa Alpha Psi for $2 million after he was allegedly hazed by a Prince George’s County police officer.
Harry Draughn Jr., 45, said he was told to strip down to his underwear and was beaten and smacked with a cane as part of a hazing related to his becoming a spring 2015 pledge.
The officer, Jesse Stewart Jr., is an intake chairman for the alumni chapter and is listed as “2nd Vice Polemarch” on the chapter’s website. He was off duty at the time of the alleged hazing.
Watch a full report on the hazing allegations below:
“When one of our officers is accused of wrongdoing, we take those allegations seriously,” Police Chief Mark A. Magaw said in a statement released Tuesday. “The Prince George’s County Police Department holds our officers to high standards whether they are on or off duty.”
Draughn’s attorney, Jimmy Bell, noted that this was not the first time the fraternity had run into problems for hazing, with a moratorium on pledge intake having only been lifted in January.
“It makes no sense that a month later my client is being hazed,” Bell said. “They didn’t fix the problems. That is failed leadership.”
In the suit’s documents, filed Tuesday, Draughn alleges that he paid $3,000 for membership in the fraternity but was not allowed to receive a refund when he complained of the hazing.
During the hazing, Draughn and other were asked to take off their pants and socks and to “perform tasks around [the defendant’s] house in their underwear.” They were then asked about their sex lives and told to rub lotion on Stewart.
Draughn claims Stewart hit him and another pledge “on the bottom with a cane.”
“Since the beating on March 23, 2015, Plaintiff has had to sit on a pillow while driving and is suffering from lower back pain, has not [been] able to sleep, has felt depressed,” the lawsuit states.