YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    The Lookout

    FAMU band hazing case: Drum major beaten to death with drumsticks, mallets

    By | The Lookout – Wed, May 23, 2012

    Members of the Florida A&M band lead a horse-drawn carriage carrying the casket of fellow band member Robert Champion, …

    Robert Champion Jr., the Florida A&M University band member who died last fall following a hazing ritual on a bus, was beaten to death with drumsticks and bass-drum mallets, according to more than 1,500 pages of evidence released by prosecutors on Wednesday.

    Eleven band members are facing felony hazing charges in Champion's Nov. 19 death. One of them told investigators that Champion wanted to be hazed.

    "It's a respect thing, you know," Jonathan Boyce said, according to a deposition included in the documents released by the Florida District Attorney's Office. "Well, he was wanting to do it all ... all season."

    Two initially denied that they were on the bus when Champion was beaten, but one—Caleb Jackson—admitted he was present after a hotel surveillance video showed him exiting the bus.

    Keon Hollis, a fellow drum major, told investigators he was subjected to the same hazing ritual Champion was on the bus parked outside an Orlando hotel.

    [Y! Big Story: Hazing rites gone wrong]

    Champion "seemed fine immediately afterward, but said he was thirsty," Hollis told detectives.

    Champion collapsed and later died. According to the autopsy cited by The Associated Press, Champion suffered blunt force trauma to his body and died from shock due to severe bleeding.

    Boyce told police that he tried to get Champion off the bus.

    "So I grab him to try to keep everybody off him and I grab him and I'm pulling him and I'm pulling him," Boyce told detectives. "People are kicking him so I stopped them from kicking him and I put my body around his body."

    FAMU's band has been suspended through the 2012-2013 school year. The band director, who had reportedly warned university officials about hazing, retired on May 10.

    More popular Yahoo! News stories:

    • Diverted US Airways flight lands in Charlotte; passenger claimed to have surgically implanted device

    • Pizza parlor's giveaway sparks heated debate

    • SC union leader attacks piñata with Gov. Nikki Haley's likeness

    Loading...

    News for You »

    • Cycling-Defending champion Hesjedal quits Giro d'Italia

      By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) - Defending Giro d'Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal has withdrawn from this year's race, the Canadian's Garmin-Sharp team announced before the start of Friday's stage 13. Hesjedal had slipped to 38th place after 12 stages, 32 minutes and 55 seconds down on overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy after suffering badly in the first mountain stages of the race last weekend. "It's heartbreaking," Hesjedal said in a news release. "I want to be here for my team and for all the people who have supported me to get me here to this point. ...

    • Danish teenager makes rare Viking find

      COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish museum officials say that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins.

    • The 16-Year-Old Who Changed Medicine Is Out to Change It Again

      At 16 years old, Jack Andraka is already a superstar in the field of science. Earlier this year, he won Intel’s prestigious Gordon E. Moore Award, when he created a groundbreaking testing method that can detect pancreatic cancer in its earliest stages. His work is expected to save thousands of lives.

    • Cycling-Road-Giro d'Italia points classification after stage 12

      May 16 (Infostrada Sports) - Points Classification Giro d'Italia after Stage 12 on Thursday 1. Mark Cavendish (Britain / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 83 2. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) 73 3. Elia Viviani (Italy / Cannondale) 60 4. Maxim Belkov (Russia / Katusha) 55 5. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Team Sky) 53 6. Mauro Santambrogio (Italy / Vini Fantini) 52 7. Nacer Bouhanni (France / FDJ) 51 8. Enrico Battaglin (Italy / Bardiani Valvole) 45 9. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 45 10. Carlos Betancur (Colombia / AG2R) 43

    • This Is Exactly How Massive the Texas Fertilizer Explosion Was

      Representatives of the ATF and the Texas Fire Marshall provided an update on their joint investigation into the fertilizer plant explosion in West Texas. The short story is that the cause of the fire is undetermined. The long story is that the investigation has been as massive as was the explosion.

    • Topless protest disrupts opening of Barbie house in Berlin

      BERLIN (Reuters) - Women's rights protesters disrupted the opening of a giant pink doll's house in Berlin on Thursday, saying the Barbie "Dreamhouse Experience" objectified women. Promoting the doll made by Mattel Inc, the house allows paying visitors to try on Barbie's clothes, play in her kitchen and have a go on her pink piano. The exhibition will be open until August 25. A handful of protesters gathered outside the shocking pink house that has been erected in one of central Berlin's greyest areas. ...

    • Bea Arthur topless painting fetches $1.9M in NYC

      A painting of actress Bea Arthur topless has sold for $1.9 million at a New York City auction. The painting is by artist John Currin and is titled "Bea Arthur Naked." It sold at Christie's auction ...

    • MARATHON BOMBERS ARE PART OF LARGER PICTURE

      WASHINGTON -- The one thing no one has suspected Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of being is a closet essayist. The idea of this young Chechen/Dagestani/Khrgyz man who, with his brother is accused of the vicious Boston Marathon bombings, making notes on his ideas had not entered the bio.And yet, as I write, news sources are reporting new information about Dzhokhar. Lying helplessly in the landlocked boat he was hiding inside of, in the small Massachusetts town outside Boston where they had fled, he wrote several primitive but revealing thoughts on the hull of the bullet-pocked boat with a pen he found. ...

    Show More
    Loading...

    Follow Yahoo! News