'It's mind-boggling.' What potential charges in Rutgers hazing incident could look like
Anyone responsible for what happened could be looking at hefty charges, especially because of a fairly new law named after a different victim of hazing.
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A national fraternity shut down its Rutgers University chapter for hazing on Friday after a student was sent to the hospital with critical injuries.
The student was injured on Oct. 15, allegedly inside the now-condemned Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house.
Anyone responsible for what happened could be looking at hefty charges, especially because of a fairly new law named after a different victim of hazing.
"You send your kid off to college, and you never think that their so-called friend is going to hurt them, and then not call for help to take care of them. It's just - it's mind-boggling," said Evelyn Piazza, the mother of Timothy Piazza, who died from a hazing incident at Penn State University in 2017.
That's why Evelyn and her husband, Jim, of Spring Lake, New Jersey, have become advocates to stop hazing.
They help other families who are going through the same thing they did eight years ago.
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"We kind of knew it was hazing. We had talked to the dad last week, actually, after it happened. It was pretty clear to me that it was a hazing incident. It's just people were trying to create a different narrative about it," said Jim Piazza, referencing the family of the victim in the Rutgers incident.
In 2024, the Piazzas got a law passed, named in memory of their son.
"The Timothy Piazza law is a felony hazing law, but it has different levels. There's aggravated hazing for instances of serious injury or death, which this would apply to," said Evelyn.
If those responsible are prosecuted for the Rutgers incident, the case would be the first time the Piazzas have seen their law used in practice.
Experts say these cases can be tricky, though, not impossible.
"It's very, very difficult to codify a behavior like this when you're dealing with an organization. The prosecutor's office is going to have - they'll most likely pick the prosecutable cases," New Jersey attorney John Fabriele said. "They'd have to be directly involved. You're talking about witnesses. They're going to interview people and get names. Whoever they can find enough evidence by witness testimony, that's who they'll prosecute."
The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on this case because the investigation is active and ongoing.
