An alleged hazing incident at an unofficial fraternity house sends one University at Buffalo student to the hospital and lands two others in jail. Buffalo police were called to a house on Northrup Place near the university's south campus around 2:30 Wednesday morning.
Sources tell Eyewitness News a combination of spray paint and hot sauce was applied near the eyes of nearly naked students during an initiation ritual. The hazing apparently crossed the line in the eyes of officers on the scene who were responding to a complaint call about activities at an unauthorized frat house. Officers arrested 20-year-olds Kyle O'Shea and Jason Rosen, both U.B. students who are now charged with second degree hazing.
The fraternity involved in this case is one that is not recognized by U.B. Alpha Tau Omega was kicked off campus in 2002 and students can be expelled for being involved with A.T.O.
Neighbors on Northrup Place say they didn't see the incident that led to the arrests, but some say they've witnessed other less harmful hazing at the unofficial frat house. "I would never want to be tossed water balloons in 30 degree weather and get arrested whatever they're doing but that's what some of them chose to do," says Peter Jeffries, a U.B. sophomore who lives on Northup and is not a fraternity member.
Police say one hazing victim was treated at a hospital and released. O'Shea and Rosen as well as two other students believed to be involved are now suspended from U.B. The university's website warns students and parents against getting involved with unrecognized groups and says incidents of hazing tend to be high with these groups.
U.B. police are also investigating this incident and the punishment the university could hand down ranges from warnings to expulsion. The students could also end up with a permanent notation of hazing in their academic transcripts.
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