Student burned at frat
Incident involves alcohol, oil lamp
By Joe Johnson
joe.johnson@onlineathens.com
A 21-year-old University of Georgia student was severely burned early Tuesday during a UGA fraternity drinking ritual that went terribly awry, Athens-Clarke police said.
William Flynn Miller IV was engaged in a drinking rite inside the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house at 990 S. Milledge Ave. involving 190-proof grain alcohol and a lighted oil lantern at about 3:20 a.m. when his clothes burst into flame, severely burning his upper torso, according to police.
Jay Sammons, the fraternity's outgoing president, said in an interview he did not witness the incident because he was in his room at the time. He said a meeting was to be held Tuesday night to discuss what had happened.
He said Miller, a senior from Savannah majoring in forestry and known to friends as "Flynn," suffered second-degree burns over 20 percent of his body.
According to police, however, Miller had suffered third-degree burns to his upper torso and hands, but his injuries did not appear life-threatening.
Initially taken to Athens Regional Medical Center, Miller was later flown by helicopter to the Augusta Medical Center, where he was being treated in the hospital's burn center, a hospital official said.
Fraternity members interviewed at the scene shortly after the incident claimed the fire had not resulted from a hazing ritual, according to police.
"My understanding is they were having some type of activity that involved grain alcohol," police Capt. Mark Sizemore said.
Sammons said the accident occurred during "Senior Night," in which those preparing to graduate take turns addressing the fraternity, sharing remembrances of having belonged to Lambda Chi Alpha.
"Drinking's not required" as part of Senior Night, Sammons said.
"People bring beer and stuff, but as far as it being a rule, no one ever says you need to drink," he said.
Sizemore said despite the severity of his burns, Williams was conscious and able to speak with a detective who went to the Augusta hospital to interview him.
"We're following up to make sure nothing criminal in nature took place and to make sure these types of accidents don't happen again," he said.
According to interviews with fraternity members, the room in the frat house where the ritual was being performed was in darkness, save for the light from an "Aladdin style" oil lamp that sat atop a podium next to a bottle of Everclear, which is 95-percent pure grain alcohol, police said.
One 22-year-old fraternity member said he had been standing behind the podium as other members took turns drinking shots of the powerful liquor, according to police, and "he said someone came from his left and was taking a shot or pouring, and Mr. Miller came from the right. The frat member said somehow the alcohol ignited and Mr. Miller was surrounded by a ball of fire."
Fellow fraternity members put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, police said.
According to one statement, the fraternity members "were not hazing," as "everyone had been initiated a couple of weeks ago," according to police.
When officers arrived on the scene, the floor of the frat house was littered with cans and bottles of beer, folding chairs were scattered about and the odor of burned hair lingered in the air.
Miller was found on the floor, and although conscious, skin was hanging off his fingers, chest, stomach, side and back, police said.
"Mr. Miller said they were drinking and had been horsing around, and somehow - while next to an open flame from a lamp - the liquor ignited and caught him on fire," according to a police report.
One source knowledgeable about the incident, who asked to not be identified, said that Lambda Chi Alpha traditionally engages in a drinking ritual while playing the Steppenwolf rock song "Magic Carpet Ride," which makes mention of Aladdin's lamp.
The lyrics go, in part:
"Last night I held Aladdin's lamp
And so I wished that I could stay
Before the thing could answer me
Well, someone came and took the lamp away
I looked around, a lousy candle's all I found."
Sammons denied his fraternity engages in such a rite.
UGA spokesman Tom Jackson said the university was investigating the incident.
"Obviously, our student affairs people were called to the scene early this morning, and our first concern is for the well being of Flynn," Jackson said. "Clearly, our student affairs officials will get to the bottom of this and take any action which is appropriate."
Tuesday morning's accident marked the second time in recent years that Lambda Chi Alpha has been in the news as the result of an alcohol-related tragedy.
In April 2003, 19-year-old Travis F. Starr of Martinez died several days after falling from a pickup truck while being driven home from a night of drinking in downtown Athens bars. Fellow Lambda Chi member Brett Steele, who was driving the truck, was charged with first-degree homicide by vehicle, a felony, and in March a Clarke County Superior Court jury convicted him of misdemeanor charges of second-degree vehicular homicide.
Steele was sentenced to 30 days in jail, to be followed by one year on probation, but the sentence has been stayed because an appeal is still pending.
Also in 2003, Phi Kappa Psi member Erik Robert Zimmerman, 20, was charged with animal cruelty for shooting a raccoon on his fraternity house's property on Dec. 12. Although not charged, one other fraternity member skinned the dead animal, and a third cooked and ate a piece of the animal's flesh.
Zimmerman, who has undergone a battery of psychological testing, is still awaiting trial in Clarke County State Court.
Three years before that, in March 2000, 20-year-old Ben F. Grantham III, a member of the UGA chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, died during a hazing incident that ended in a fatal wreck in Oconee County.
Handcuffed and blindfolded in the cargo hold of a sport-utility vehicle, Grantham died when the SUV crashed at high speed on Elder Mill Road.
As a result of the tragedy, Alpha Tau Omega voluntarily disbanded, and four former members pleaded guilty to charges ranging from vehicular homicide to involuntary manslaughter, receiving sentences ranging from five years on probation to 100 hours of community service.
Seven months later, UGA lodged university hazing complaints against five fraternity members found conducting a secret induction ritual on Athens roadways after police found three fraternity members riding in an SUV with two blindfolded fraternity members in the cargo hold. Three of the men were members of Kappa Alpha fraternity, one belonged to Sigma Chi and one was a Lambda Chi Alpha member.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, December 1, 2004
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