The arrest report of nine LSU students charged with hazing of Delta Kappa Epsilon pledges details the rituals the pledges were subjected to, including being urinated upon, having Creole seasoning-laced water dripped into their eyes, and being forced to lie down on a basketball court covered in broken glass, WWL-TV reports.
Out of the nine people arrested, four of them face a felony charge for battery, 23-year-old Cade Rain Duckworth of Lafayette was also booked on a false imprisonment charge, which is a felony.
Also charged are Gaston Thomas Eymard, Shakti P. Gilotra, Malcolm Richard McNiece, Charles Eugene Brakenridge, Blake Andrew Chalin, Joseph Dylan Harkrider, Alexander Joseph Rozas, and Garrett Joseph Sanders.
The hazing-specific charges are all misdemeanors, although a new state law named after LSU freshman Max Gruver, who died in a hazing incident in 2017, does provide for some felony hazing charges. Legal analyst Tim Meche says authorities must not think the students' actions met the criteria for the tougher charges.
"Under what's know as the Max Gruver Act, the legislature made it a felony only if the hazing results in serious bodily injury or death," Meche explained.
Meche says it’ll be interesting to see if Baton Rouge DA Hillar Moore uses the new law to broaden the scope of the case.