Fraternity Member Charged With Manslaughter in Hazing Death of University Student

The police in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday announced the first of a series of expected arrests in the fraternity hazing death of Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old Southern University student who they said was repeatedly punched with boxing gloves at a warehouse last week and was unresponsive when he was dropped off at an emergency room.

Caleb McCray, 23, a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, was charged with manslaughter and felony criminal hazing, according to court records. The authorities said at a news conference on Friday that two other suspects could soon be arrested.

Mr. McCray was identified by witnesses as the person who punched Mr. Wilson, the arrest warrant affidavit said. He turned himself in to the authorities on Thursday and was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, the police said.

The people who brought Mr. Wilson to Baton Rouge General Medical Center told employees on the night of his death that he had collapsed after being struck in the chest while playing basketball before they fled the hospital, the authorities said.

But investigators said that they had learned that was not true.

As part of a hazing ritual for the Beta Sigma chapter of Omega Psi Phi, Mr. Wilson and several other pledges were lined up and hit four times each with boxing gloves in their chests, the authorities said.

The repeated blows caused him to collapse to the floor and suffer what had appeared to be a seizure, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

“Caleb Wilson died as a direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to Omega Psi Phi fraternity,” Thomas S. Morse Jr., the Baton Rouge police chief, said at the news conference.

On Thursday, the university, a historically Black institution, ordered the fraternity chapter to cease all activities and suspended pledging for all Greek organizations for the rest of the academic year.

“The university will continue to fully and actively cooperate with law enforcement as this case moves forward,” Dennis J. Shields, the president of the Southern University System, said during the joint briefing on the case.

The fraternity could face civil penalties under a Louisiana anti-hazing law.

Dallas Thompson, a representative for Omega Psi Phi said in a statement on Friday that the organization was “saddened by the tragic situation at Southern University” and was “committed to cooperating with, and supporting, all ongoing investigations to uncover the truth.”

If convicted of manslaughter, Mr. McCray could face up to 40 years in prison.

Hazing can rise to a felony charge in Louisiana under the Max Gruver Act, which is named after a Louisiana State University student who died of alcohol poisoning as part of a fraternity ritual in 2017.

It can result in a prison sentence of up to five years in cases of bodily harm, death or if a victim’s blood alcohol level is .30 or higher, which is more than three times the legal limit.

In a statement, Phillip M. Robinson, a lawyer for Mr. McCray, urged the public not to prejudge his client.

“At this time, I have not been presented with any evidence to support such serious accusations,” he said. “I maintain my client’s innocence and urge the public to withhold rushing to judgment until all the evidence is heard.”

None of the evidence collected suggested that Mr. McCray had intended to “cause death or great bodily harm to any of the pledges,” the arrest warrant affidavit said.

Investigators said that Mr. Wilson and the other pledges wore gray sweatsuits during the hazing ritual, but that his clothes were changed before he was driven to the hospital in the passenger seat of a Dodge Challenger that was seen in security camera footage.

“At no time did anyone call 911,” Chief Morse said.

The death of Mr. Wilson, a junior who was studying engineering and was a member of the university’s “Human Jukebox” Marching Band, has drawn an outpouring of grief and tributes.

“I encourage all the young people out there to make better decisions,” Sid Edwards, the Baton Rouge mayor, said at the news conference. “We’ve got to do better, Baton Rouge.”