The parents of Dalton Debrick filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Bexar County Thursday afternoon for $1 million or more. The lawsuit names 20 persons accused of participating in a Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity event in August of 2014.
Debrick was an incoming freshman student at Texas Tech University.
The lawsuit said, “Dalton and approximately 29 other pledges … had received official bids to join the Fraternity.”
“The pledges were then blind folded and taken by car to 3613 36th Street,” the lawsuit said. “Fraternity members then instructed the pledges, including Dalton, that it was a condition of admittance to the Fraternity for the pledges to consume large quantities of beer and liquor in a short period of time as part of the Fraternity’s initiation ritual.”
The lawsuit also said, “Pursuant to the Fraternity’s instructions, Dalton and other pledges were required to drink a 16-gallon keg of beer in 30 minutes.”
Dalton was also made to drink whiskey. The lawsuit described the situation as hazing.
“The vast majority of the 30+ pledges became intoxicated to the point of vomiting within the first hour,” the lawsuit said.
“Pledges that became unconscious due to intoxication were initially placed on a concrete ramp in front of a shed in the back yard of the residence,” the lawsuit said.
Debrick’s body was discovered the next morning. He died from acute alcohol poisoning.
The Texas Tech “colony” of the fraternity was deactivated shortly after his death.
Debra Debrick told EverythingLubbock.com by phone on Friday that she felt like Texas Tech had taken measures to try to prevent another situation like the one that led to Dalton’s death.
However, she felt like some of the young men involved in the fraternity party were not remorseful.
“It seems like none of these boys have been held accountable,” Debra said. “What they did took a life.”
Six young men were charged with misdemeanors related to the death of Dalton Debrick. Debra said she attended pre-trial hearings for two of them Friday in Lubbock.
“You see no remorse on the kid’s faces at all,” she said.
Debra said she’s still fighting for her son and she said if she can save even one life then she’s done her job.
The lawsuit listed the defendants as Sebastian Mariappan Arulraj, Cesar Chavez-Caraveo, Joe Anthony Garcia, Eric Anthony Spenk, James Alexander Krusee, Nathaniel David Rosen, Jeffrey Evan Rosen, Bradd London Sissel, Jeffrey David Wyatt, Zachary Charles Zeiler, Cale Jacob Haby, Christopher Morgan Balchunas, Kenneth Charles Barton, James Glen Davis, Tanner William Maycumber, Dax Colton Baca, Mathieu A. Valance, Jackie Yu, Jacob Alton Sikes, and Peter William Fegan.
