Hazing at Frostburg: girls field hockey

[hoosier]

Field Hockey Players Charged In Teammate's Hazing

Police: Player's Blood Alcohol Level Four Times Legal Limit

POSTED: 5:35 pm EDT April 27, 2005

FROSTBURG, Md. -- Six Frostburg State University female field hockey players hazed their new teammates by urging them to drink so much beer and liquor that one 18-year-old was hospitalized with a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit, police say.


The freshman victims also were pelted with flour, ice and eggs, and made to sit in their own vomit and urine, according to charging documents filed in Allegany County District Court by Frostburg police.

Five of the women named in court records as perpetrators were charged with second-degree assault and hazing, police said Wednesday. Charges were pending against the sixth, they said.


The defendants are Elizabeth B. Armstrong, 20, of Port Deposit; Tawni D. Buck, 20, of Port Deposit; Kristin M. Cousin, 20, of Edgewater; Amanda L. Griswold, 19, of Rockville; and Morgan S. Whalen, 19, of *******, Del. They were served Monday with criminal summons ordering them to appear in court May 25.

The defendants couldn't be reached immediately for comment. None had publicly listed telephone numbers, and their parents either didn't return calls or declined to comment.

The documents also named six alleged victims. The one who suffered alcohol poisoning was cited for underage drinking, the Cumberland Times-News reported. She was identified in court and school records as Carly Cross, 18, of Odenton.

Frostburg Police Capt. Gary F. Llewellyn stated in charging documents that he encountered Cross late on the night of Dec. 3, being carried, unconscious, by her boyfriend along a city street. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where her blood alcohol content was measured at 0.365, more than four times the .08 level defined by Maryland driving laws as intoxication.

On Dec. 16, Cross gave police a written statement saying she had passed out after drinking beer and at least four or five shots of liquor at a women's field hockey party.

On March 17, another 18-year-old team member gave police a detailed description of the party that was later corroborated by four other alleged victims, police said. The witnesses said they had been seated and blindfolded with their hands tied, and were given shots of various liquors that they were told to wash down with beer. The victims weren't allowed to use the bathroom and some became ill, the witnesses said.

According to Llewellyn's report, the party was a "secret buddy Christmas party," thrown annually by senior team members to initiate new members.

The school conducted its own investigation in December and found six students responsible for the hazing, spokesman Ty DeMartino said. He said their sanctions included suspension from the team, suspension from games next fall, and disciplinary and educational programs.

"FSU is committed to ending whatever hazing exists and will continue to be firm with offenders on campus," DeMartino said.

Second-degree assault carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Hazing of a university student carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.