Tim Piazza death investigation: Prosecutor announces new charges
The district attorney's office in Centre County, Pennsylvania, has announced new charges in the death of Tim Piazza. Authorities based the new charges on the Beta Theta Pi basement surveillance footage deleted by a fraternity member following the 19-year-old's death.
Piazza was at the Penn State University fraternity for a pledge event in February when he died after falling down a flight stairs. He suffered severe head trauma and a ruptured spleen from the fall.
District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said fraternity brothers gave Piazza 18 drinks in under one hour and 22 minutes. Piazza never obtained any of the drinks himself, Miller said. "Brothers were coming up to him and giving him those drinks," she added. "That's the evidence that the commonwealth now has."
After investigators determined the security footage was manually deleted, they then sent the tapes to the FBI, whose agents recovered the video, authorities said in a statement.
Twelve new fraternity members now face charges in the investigation. Of the 17 fraternity members charged, five now face manslaughter charges. Other charges include assault, reckless endangerment, giving alcohol to minors, hazing and tampering with evidence.
Surveillance video played in court reportedly shows Piazza repeatedly falling, passing out and tumbling head-first down a flight of stairs, and no one called 911 for hours.
In June, Piazza family attorney Tom Kline told CBS News the family hasn't decided whether they'll be in the courtroom when the surveillance videos are played.
"The videotape is horrible, and it is gruesome," Kline said. "No parent wants to see what is apparently on this videotape."