E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSTALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Police have arrested three Florida A&M band members in the beating of a woman during hazing rituals that became so severe that her thigh was broken.
Tallahassee police said Monday that on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 the three struck band member Bria Shante Hunter's legs with their fists and with a metal ruler to initiate her into the "Red Dawg Order." It's a band clique for students who come from Georgia.
Hunter told police that days later the pain became so unbearable that she went to the hospital. Her thigh bone was broken and she had blood clots in her legs.
Hunter's beatings came about three weeks before FAMU drum major Robert Champion was killed during a band trip to Orlando. Police say hazing was involved.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Pearl Harbor surprise: Photo of female firefighters was staged
- First Read: Is Romney following in Clinton's footsteps?
- NBC: Pakistan says US drones in its air space will be shot down
- Messages deleted by tabloid journalists? Not so fast...
- Two-legged swine hams it up in China
- Happy New Year: San Fran minimum wage to be $10
- 2011's weather disasters rack up $12 billion bill
Leave a Comment:
So this is the kind of people who are getting higher education? Do you think they'll benefit from it?
Hazing rituals that become that violent say's something about the group mentality here, and the fact that some young adults get killed tells me working at a fast food joint would be better for the student than going into places of so called higher learning like college, and running into this crowd. I think it's time that the universities take another look at these practices and ban them all together because it obviously has become a more violent world that we live in and as a result of that it has trickled down to the average college campus and it isn't just this one, it's everywhere. Between that and assaults it's just a damn shame.
Sana Powers
Why didn't FAMU end the band program after the earliest injury they heard of? That they did not, makes me doubt the value of all their programs, including academic. No one is paying attention to what goes on. That students wanted to be in the band knowing of the violence is a bad sign about the parents who raised them -- victims as well as perps, and I gather that victims became perps.
The president did not care. He knew this happened, it was reported that it happened, but he didn't care.
saw them on the TV...all black students...nothing will be done to them
This kind of stuff has been going on for years and the school's know it. It's just one more thing swept under the rug. Self-policing is not good for schools.
First of all, if you are in band, you are a geek and most likely a loser or outcast who could not cut it in sports or other meaningful activities that actually lead you places in life so hazing should be something you abhor and would never do to someone since you are a loser as well and have been hazed most likely you entire life. What a bunch of hypocrites!
Apparently you don't know that some bands at certain university are at the top. This is at many of the black colleges where as athletes are number one at others. Hazing takes place in sports as well as the greek system at university. At a school like FAMU, being in a band is not a geek or loser, fyi.
TexasNmberOne, sounds like you have no idea what happens in band. I was in band from 6th grade thru college, and I also played sports. In high school, I could do more push ups (boy style) than most of the football players. We were out on the field in the hot sun during the summer and at 6 a.m. in the winter. And as for band not taking you places in life, I got a music scholarship that took me straight to college, that took me someplace else.
Not to be racist, but they are black as well and are probably really pissed that they are playing basketball or football in school and have been left to toot horns and beat on drums and dance around like a bunch of fools.
Not every black person wants to or can play sports. I didn't. Lots of schools here in the south are know for their bands. Not all athletes are wonderful. Oh and not all white folks play sports either. Some are losers who do drugs, etc.
Why would you bring up their race other than to make a racist statement? Hazing incidents and deaths have been associated with all races of people. There are idiots and sadistic people in every race.
replying to me or texas. I bought up race as an example since texas did.
In most states, I know for sure Nebraska, hazing rituals are illegal. As workers for the University (I was an RA) we are educated on what hazing rituals may look like and are told how to deal with them and who to report them to. I find it incredible that you two above are condemning all "higher education institutions" based on a small percentage of students from ONE university. The fact that this has not been further reviewed earlier by that institution does not speak for all institutions. As for the hazing rituals being carried out by those individuals... most likely they were, themselves, hazed, and as in many cases of abuse, the abused becomes the abuser, sometimes being even more extreme than the original abuse. Your comments about how "dangerous" higher education institutions are, based on this one example (like I said, a VERY SMALL percentage of students at ONE university) shows your ignorance. It's like me saying all dogs are bad if they come from a shelter based on one report of one dog biting an owner that came from a shelter...
When I started writing my response only Sana Powers and Zack Baines had responded.
Jeeze, lighten up, a little hazing never hurt anybody!
Oh wait....
To honor the memory of Robert Champion, all FAMU band members should withdraw from the band, and, going forward, the FAMU marching band should be abolished by the University administration.