Three Charged in SUNY Geneseo Drinking Death
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ABC News On Campus reporter Ryan Calhoun blogs: Three young men were charged with criminally negligent homicide Tuesday in connection with the drinking death of a 19-year-old State University of New York Geneseo student. The arrests of SUNY Geneseo students Daniel Wech, 21, and Alex Stucki, 20, along with Devin McClain, 21, who is not a student at the college, follow the March 1 death of sophomore Arman Partamian.
The three were also charged with several counts of hazing, unlawfully dealing with a child and criminal nuisance, according to Livingston County District Attorney Tom Moran. Stucki is also accused of tampering with physical evidence.
Partamian, a fraternity pledge, was found dead March 1 at an unofficial fraternity house known as “The Pigs.” On the night of his death, police said that he had a blood alcohol content level of .39 percent, which is nearly five times the legal limit of .08 percent.
The three men pleaded not guilty, and were released after arraignment.
While “The Pigs” is known for partying, Moran said the house didn’t generate more complaints than any other campus fraternity.
SUNY Geneseo President Christopher Dahl pledged the college would “continue to support the district attorney’s office and will cooperate fully with the state police investigation.
“The loss of Arman Partamian has profoundly affected our campus community,” Dahl continued, “and we continue to mourn with Arman’s family and friends.
“We must take these unequivocal actions,” said Dahl, “so we and college campuses everywhere can learn from Arman’s tragic death.”
Stucki’s lawyer, Lawrence Andolina, told the Associated Press that Partamian’s death "is a real tragedy, and we certainly express our deep remorse" to his family.
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Colleges and universities should be REQUIRED to discuss the dangers of alcohol with freshmen during orientation. Kids need to know they can DIE from too much alcohol. I didn’t have my first drink until college. My first drink was 150 proof vodka, staight. It literally took my breath away. I was clueless. Schools need to be more proactive and not just reactive.
Posted by: p1tey1 | March 31, 2009, 7:23 pm 7:23 pm
these men should simply be charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor”, a alcohol violation (providing alcohol to a minor), and operating a public house without a permit (since they were sellig booze).
Hazing statutes and charging them with some form of homicide is ridiculous. The victim was an adult. Sadly, adults can make bad decisions. Yes, there is peer pressure but he was free to leave. Unless fact determine that he was physically bound or locked up there should be no additional charges.
Hazing is a “non-crime”. It is behavior between consenting adults. If someone wants to be beaten, verbally abused, etc it is their right, whether this takes place in a sexual context (sex games) or as a hazing in a Fraternity, sports team, etc. Adults should be able to do what they want with each other as long as it is consenting. Hazing laws are similiar to the anti-sodomy laws, pornography bans, rap music bans, etc. They try to force values onto adults because the behavior makes some uncomfortable.
Posted by: Al | April 1, 2009, 10:03 am 10:03 am
I remember Stucki from freshman year. He had to be wheeled out on a stretcher numerous times for alcohol poisoning and not cooperating with police.
He is not representative of Geneseo’s community, and its a wonder they let him back into the school after his freshman year. He’s an over privileged punk and it’s a shame he had to contribute to someone’s death before someone caught on to his general antisocial behavior.
8 years off his life is harsh but with good behavior he’ll be out in 1-2.
Posted by: anon | April 1, 2009, 11:01 pm 11:01 pm