‘Brainwashed’: Four ex-fraternity members jailed for hazing death

BLINDFOLDED, forced to wear a heavy backpack, then repeatedly tackled by his “frat brothers”, Chun “Michael” Deng lay dying. Nobody called an ambulance.

THEY were four young men, “indoctrinated” by membership of a college fraternity, according to a judge.

Their part in a brutal fraternity hazing ritual cost them their freedom.

Chun “Michael” Deng was desperate to become a fraternity brother. It cost him his life.

The four New York City men were given jail sentences in the US on Monday in the death of the 18-year-old fraternity pledger during a 2013 hazing ritual in Pennsylvania.

The judge said she believes they succumbed to the “brainwashing” and “indoctrination” that is rampant at fraternities around the nation.

What she can’t believe, is nobody called an ambulance.

Deng was blindfolded, forced to wear a heavy backpack and walk in a backyard, as fraternity members pushed, shoved and tackled him as part of the fraternity’s Crossing Over initiation ceremony. He was knocked unconscious and later died at a hospital.

Police charged 37 people with crimes ranging from aggravated assault to hazing to third-degree murder.

Sheldon Wong, right, received 10 to 24 months in jail. Picture: AP/Rich Schultz

Kenny Kwan was sentenced to 12 to 24 months jail. Picture: AP/Rich Schultz

“Not one person out of 37 picked up a telephone and called an ambulance. I cannot wrap my head around it,” Monroe County President Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington said.

Instead, as the 19-year-old lay dying, frat members were trying to cover up.

Deng fell several times and suffered multiple blows to his body, including his head, according to a forensic pathologist, court documents state.

An unconscious Deng was carried inside the house while fraternity members changed his clothes and searched online for information about his symptoms.

They waited an hour before taking him to the hospital.

Deng, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, died a day later.

The delay in treatment, a forensic pathologist said, significantly contributed to his death.

“There’s something greater going on here, and I think it’s probably really prevalent. We see across the country these issues in fraternities,” the judge said.

The four defendants: Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, hindering apprehension and other charges.

Kwan got 12 to 24 months in county jail.

Lam and Wong were sentenced to 10 to 24 months each.

Lai, who spent 342 days in jail after he was unable to make bail, was sentenced to time served.

All four defendants apologised, a few of them tearfully.

GUILT “WILL NEVER GO AWAY”

Lam was the most emotional, saying he had been consumed by guilt. He said he has attempted to kill himself.

Raymond Lam said he was consumed by guilt and had tried to kill himself. Picture: AP/Rich Schultz

Charles Lai, who spent 342 days in jail after he was unable to make bail, was sentenced to time served. Picture: AP/Rich Schultz

“The guilt will never go away, and I think about Mr Deng every day,” he said.

In a statement to the court, Deng’s mother wrote about the anguish of losing her only son and demanded a sentence that would send a message about hazing.

“This punishment should forever remind them of the pain and grief we will carry for the rest of our lives as the result of their misconduct,” Deng wrote. “It is also our hope that the punishment may also save lives by sending a clear message to other fraternities and their members that the outrageous tradition of hazing will no longer be tolerated and must be ended once and for all.”

FRATERNITY BANNED

Ahead of the jailing of the four, the Pi Delta Psi fraternity was banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years and was ordered to pay a fine of more than $110,000 for its role in Deng’s death.

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

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

In a written statement, Pi Delta Psi, an Asian-American cultural fraternity founded in 1994, said its now-disbanded Baruch College chapter brought “shame and dishonour” to the national fraternity.

Pi Delta Psi’s lawyer, Wes Niemoczynski, argued that the fraternity’s initiation rituals “involved some physicality, but they certainly did not involve the level of physicality, the level of inhumanity and the depravity” of those jailed.

The four men jailed faced the most serious charges. Dozens of other defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to probation.

Originally published as ‘Brainwashed’: Four ex-fraternity members jailed for hazing death