Fraternity sued for Boston University student’s death
Anthony Barksdale II was 18 when a member of Sigma Alpha Mu’s Boston University chapter handed him a bottle of vodka at a 2013 pledge party. Hours later he died of acute alcohol intoxication, and two years later Barksdale’s parents have filed a wrongful death suit against the fraternity and three of its members, The Boston Globe reports.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in April, states that one of the three members being sued told Barksdale’s father that he handed the 18-year-old the 1.5 liter of vodka that caused his death. Barksdale’s parents say their son had hoped to join the fraternity.
The Globe reports:
“Tony was an inexperienced drinker and quickly became severely intoxicated as he tried to drink the contents of the handle during the party,’’ the family alleged in the lawsuit. The suit was filed by his father, Anthony W. Barksdale of Nashua and his mother, Melanie J. Ricard of Mont Vernon, N.H.
Then a freshman engineering student, Barksdale died at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center on March 1, 2013. According to the lawsuit, no one at the party sought emergency help until Barksdale was unconscious and vomiting. His blood alcohol level was over four times the legal limit at .33 percent.
The BU chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu was suspended after Barksdale’s death.
Read the full Globe report here.
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