FL A&M Band hazee gets $1.8 mil

[hoosier]

Thu, Nov. 04, 2004

Hazing victim awarded $1.8M

Ex-FAMU band member beaten severely in 2001
By James L. Rosica
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


The victim of a 2001 hazing at the hands of Florida A&M University Marching 100 band members this week won a $1.8 million verdict in his civil battery case.

Marcus Parker, 21, sued five of those charged with beating him so severely with a paddling board during a band initiation that he suffered kidney failure.

After a two-day civil trial, jurors late Monday found Eric Biggins, David Benoit, Anthony Gamble, Sean McGriff and Jimmy Simmons liable for damages. Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom presided.

"I feel like justice was served, and I'm just glad it's over," said Parker, who lives in Jacksonville. Regarding the men who beat him, "I'm not going to hold (a grudge) against them," he said.

This was the first case in which a FAMU hazing victim went after the individuals charged in the act, said Tallahassee attorney David Frank, who represented Parker.

The five men defended themselves, but none showed up for trial. Simmons did not return a call; the others declined comment or could not be reached.

His client has endured four surgeries so far, and now suffers chronic kidney damage, Frank said. Parker likely will require a kidney transplant.

"This is the first time I saw him smile," Frank said. "We hope this will put an end to this kind of conduct."

Frank, who waived his attorney's fee in the case, said a separate attorney will collect the award by garnishing the defendants' wages and going after any assets they have.

"He'll get paid, just not all at once," Frank said.

A forensic nursing expert testified on Parker's operations and prognosis and a rehabilitation expert told jurors about his likely loss of future earnings, according to Frank.

Parker had settled with FAMU last October for a confidential amount, records show.

In 2001, then-freshman Parker, a trumpet player from Jacksonville, had to check into a hospital with kidney failure. Eleven arrests followed.

Hazing complaints have plagued the band since the 1950s. Band members caught hazing used to be suspended from the band. Now, they are barred from ever returning, band director Julian White has said.

A 1990 Florida law prohibits hazing and requires universities to enforce it and assess penalties.

In February, FAMU's board of trustees agreed to pay another former Marching 100 clarinet player $50,000 after a 1998 hazing.

Ivery Luckey, a former FAMU business student and band member from Ocala, said he was paddled at least 300 times, leaving him hospitalized and permanently injured.

More recently, Robert Alex Burse, a 22-year-old senior, was charged in a Sept. 24 incident involving three freshman saxophone players. He's charged with paddling the bandmates 27 times each on the buttocks with a wooden paddle at his apartment.

[UKDaisy]

Maybe I'm just used to this in band. But that kind of thing happens all the time. So I'm surprised he got that much money out of it.
I mean, it sucks....but its almost like its a requirement in certain bands.

I know people are gonna yell at me for thinking that but years of band has made me used to it.

[Lovely_gurl]

Originally posted by UKDaisy
Maybe I'm just used to this in band. But that kind of thing happens all the time. So I'm surprised he got that much money out of it.
I mean, it sucks....but its almost like its a requirement in certain bands.

I know people are gonna yell at me for thinking that but years of band has made me used to it.

I don't think anyone will "yell" at you for the "groupthink" mentality that you have adopted as a result of the years you have spent being conditioned to this type of environment. You are not alone in this "I went through it so what's the big deal" mentality that is such a pervasive part of the culture of hazing...but it does provoke a kind of sorrow in me for how accepted this type of "requirement" seems to be.

The fact that "that kind of thing happens all the time" does not mean that it
*should* happen all the time.

[Tom Earp]

Damn, you mean someone besides Greeks Do Hazing and things like this really happen?

Didnt make big time Media News did it?

Double Standard is the first thing taht comes to mind.

[kddani]

bands seem to breed hazing... and it often goes overlooked. My HS band hazed pretty badly. My college band, and least when I had friends in it, hazed, moreso within their sections.

[aoiikristi]

I was in marching band at my school as a freshman in college, and there was certainly a lot more hazing that went on there than in AOII!

Also--regarding risk management issues in general. I can remember going to marching band parties at another school that much more out of hand than any fraternity parties I went to. Not going to mention the school, but let's just say there were well over 150 people there and more kegs than I could count!

The difference is that Greeks are held accountable for every activity they have, and organizations such as marching band are not.

[JupiterTC]

I'm one of the charter members of the Elon marching band, and the second person to become drum major. We are a fairly small band, about 95 people, and we know each other really well. We have NO tolerance for hazing, because band is a co-curricular class and not an extracuricular organization. At most universities, marching band is an academic course and should be treated as such. A strong band director and student leadership can prevent hazing.

[sageofages]

To quote a very funny movie....that says it all

"One time at band camp......"

SEE *they* train them that way!!!!

[UKDaisy]

Originally posted by JupiterTC
I'm one of the charter members of the Elon marching band, and the second person to become drum major. We are a fairly small band, about 95 people, and we know each other really well. We have NO tolerance for hazing, because band is a co-curricular class and not an extracuricular organization. At most universities, marching band is an academic course and should be treated as such. A strong band director and student leadership can prevent hazing.

Just because you have a strong band director and good leadership doesn't mean you won't have hazing. Granted you have about 95 people in your band. WHich is awesome for a new band. Congrats!!

However, once you get to a larger size like this school is...you'll see that a lot of stuff is out of control at times. I sat on the Band Advisory Council and while our band was really good about not hazing....it still occurred outside of practice hours. And that's hard to deal with.

And I had the best band director in the whole world in high school and that didn't stop a trumpet player from busting his ear drum b/c Full Metal Jacket was popular amoung the seniors that year.

I was very lucky and had a senior boy that took care of me. So my "hazing" alongside one of my good girlfriends was having the senior boys cover us in chocolate syrup and whip cream on a 95 degree day. That wasn't bad....but I'm very lucky. The boys had to run laps in their underwear till they puked or begged not to run anymore. *also they had to run by the football like this*

I'm not saying this should be tolerated. It shouldn't... its just really hard to control over 100 people who go to several different parties and don't all live in a house together. *Unlike most fraternities do*

But I think the band community as a whole hazes much more than any GLO's do. But that's just my opinion. I could be totally wrong.

[Tom Earp]

Just wonder how some of these asses would like a Tuba or a Base Drum shoved up their butts?

How many Bands are paying the Insurance Fees that Greeks are?

Well if this Shit hits the damn fan, will the Schools be paying the Fees?