On Monday, four former members of a Baruch College fraternity pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the 2013 hazing death of a pledge.
Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong, who were formerly Pi Delta Psi members, had previously been charged with third-degree murder for blindfolding 19-year-old Chun “Michael” Deng, forcing him to wear a heavy backpack and then repeatedly tackling him in a hazing ritual, reports ABC News.
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When Deng suffered a head injury, fraternity members called the national president and waited an hour to take Deng to the hospital, according to NBC News.
Deng had suffered repeated blunt force trauma to his head, torso and thighs, and a medical examiner said that the delay between when he passed out and when he was taken to the hospital “significantly contributed” to Deng’s death.
Deng was the last of several pledges to be hazed that weekend. The hazings happened at a rented home in the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania.
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Kwan, Lai, Lam and Wong admitted to the abuse and trying to cover it up. They will be sentenced in December and could face 22 to 36 months in prison.
In January, another defendant in the case – 25-year-old Ka-Wing Yuen – pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to hinder apprehension by evidence tampering and conspiracy to commit hazing.
