One gets jail in Plattsburg hazing death
 

Student Sentenced in Fatal Hazing Case
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Plattsburgh, New York - December 23, 2003

One of the young men implicated in a fraternity hazing death will spend time is going to prison. William Katz, 25 of Plattsburgh, was sentenced Tuesday to one year in the Clinton County jail.

Katz and ten other members of the Psi Epsilon Chi fraternity pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the death of Plattsburgh State freshman Walter Dean Jennings. Jennings died after being forced to drink large quantities of water during an initiation ritual.

Katz was the last of the frat members to be sentenced and the only one to get any jail time. Judge Kevin Ryan singled out Katz as the person most responsible for Jennings' death.

I am sorry for his death, but at least it was water not beer or something like that.

Plus, how did he die from water? Did he drown? I don't understand.

Rainbow,

Here's a really simplistic answer from another water/hazing situation:

"Curry wasn't drinking whisky or beer, but water. Drinking as much as 15 liters of water in a short period of time—the body processes only six to eight in 24 hours—causes hyponatremia, a potentially fatal sodium imbalance in the body, says Dr. Kenney Weinmeister, who treated Curry at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas."

There have been at least these two cases this year alone.

It really doesn't matter if he died from water or alcohol intoxication. He is just as dead from drinking excessive amounts of water.

Drinking excessive amounts of water causes the brain to absorb the water & swell, leading to seizures, coma & ultimately death. The water also dilutes the body's essential balance of electrolytes and sodium.

The water-intoxicated can't just go home and sleep it off. They must get treatment or risk going into convulsions, a coma, or even death.

An Alpha Phi Alpha pledge from SMU was recently rushed to a local hospital emergency roon with water intoxication. He was in a coma for days. He did survive, but the fraternity has been suspended. Eight Alpha Phi Alpha members have been criminally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

ok, I see why water could have killed him, thank you.