Pleas to call 911 ignored as frat pledge suffered from deadly, drunken fall, member says

On the night New Jersey native Timothy Piazza died at a fraternity party at Penn State, member Kordel Davis pleaded with others at the house to get Piazza help — but those pleas were ignored, Davis says.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Kordel Davis describes how months earlier, he fell and hit his head at another Beta Theta Pi party. Davis said he was taken for help, but no one called 911.

Davis told GMA that when questioned by investigators about Piazza's death — from injuries he suffered falling down a flight of stairs — he recalled screaming to get his point across.

"Everybody was surrounding him, basically laughing pointing," Davis said. "Right away, I started freaking out. ... Tim fell and he's just lying on the couch ... If Tim fell, he doesn't need to be on the couch. ... He needs to go to the hospital. We need to call 911."

But Davis said fraternity members dismissed his concerns, and "it seemed like they just wanted to make sure they themselves were safe rather than Tim Truly being safe."

Last week, more than a thousand charges, including involuntary manslaughter, were announced against the fraternity and 18 of its members.

The fraternity  was supposed to have been “dry” as punishment for past excessive drinking and hazing. The February incident led to the fraternity being banned from the school and a severe crackdown on other fraternities, including the suspension of one.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said last week that the night Piazza died, the Hunterdon Central Regional graduate and other pledges were part of a initiation called a “gauntlet,” which involved drinking “enormous” amounts of alcohol.

“His blood alcohol, after it was over in a matter of minutes, reached almost .40. Essentially it was a fatal amount of alcohol and it led to him falling down a set of stairs,” Miller said. The fall left him with visible injuries stomach and the head, she said.

The events of the night were captured on video, Miller has said.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com