1st pledge death of the school year: local at UC Irvine

[hoosier]

Pledge Dies After Frat Game

* Cal Poly Pomona student suffered a head injury at a football game in Irvine. Police are investigating whether hazing is to blame.

By H.G. Reza and David Reyes, Times Staff Writers

Irvine police are investigating whether a college student who died after a weekend football game between pledges and UC Irvine fraternity members was a hazing victim.
Kenny Luong, 19, of Rosemead died of head injuries about 2 p.m. Tuesday at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where several dozen friends and relatives had gathered to grieve.

Luong was among a group of Cal Poly Pomona students pledging Lambda Phi Epsilon, a nationally recognized fraternity. The students were playing against a team from the fraternity's UC Irvine chapter, said Police Lt. Jeff Love. None wore a helmet or protective gear, he said.
"The game was part of nine weeks of pledging required to have a fraternity at Cal Poly," Love said.
A fellow pledge who participated in the game, however, described it as "a hazing disguised as a football game."
Daniel Dai, 21, of Alhambra, a business major at Cal Poly Pomona, said he and eight other pledges — including Luong — played against 30 to 40 fraternity members in what was supposed to be the culmination of the pledging process. Luong's injury, he said, resulted from a tackle.
It was "as if he had the breath knocked out of him," Dai said, "because he became limp and knocked to the ground. Kenny was one of the youngest guys in the group, but he was one of the guys with the most heart.
"He even quit his job [at Robinsons May in Santa Ana] for pledgeship — he wanted it that bad."
Love said police had no information suggesting that Luong's injury resulted from a crime.
"But given the fact that it was part of a pledging activity, we wanted to make sure," he said.
Simple hazing is a misdemeanor, Love said, but if someone dies of an injury, those responsible could face felony charges ranging from manslaughter to homicide.
Meanwhile, the UC Irvine chapter has been placed on "interim emergency suspension," said university spokesman Jim Cohen.
Luong and the other Cal Poly students had been interested in starting a chapter at the Pomona university, Love said.
According to police, paramedics were called to San Marco Park in Irvine about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police were notified the next day when they received a call from the hospital or one of Luong's relatives reporting his injury, Love said. Detectives were interviewing players and spectators Tuesday