Florida authorities have brought felony charges against 13 people in what they called the hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion, a prosecutor announced Wednesday.
“Robert Champion died as a result of being beaten,” State Attorney Lawson Lamar said. “His death is not linked to one sole strike but is attributed to multiple blows.”
Joyce Dawley, the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Orlando division, said one person was in custody and one was being sought out of state. Sheriff’s deputies and the FDLE were looking for the other 11 within Florida, she said.
The 13 face felony hazing charges. There were also 20 misdemeanor charges filed in the case, but it was not immediately clear how those specifically applied to the suspects.
Champion collapsed in Orlando on the bus, which was carrying members of FAMU’s Marching 100 after a November football game that included a halftime performance by the group.
Medical examiners ruled his death a homicide, saying he died “within an hour of a hazing incident during which he suffered multiple blunt trauma blows to his body.”
“This is a homicide by hazing,” Lamar said.
The case built by investigators “does not support a charge of murder,” Lamar said in Orlando.
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article courtesy of CNN.com
