Florida A&M University says drum major Robert Champion knew the dangers of hazing and signed an anti-hazing pledge.
Florida A&M University is not responsible for drum major Robert Champion's hazing death, the university contends in a court document.
Champion himself is, it says.
In a 23-page motion seeking dismissal of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Champion's family in Orange County Circuit Court, FAMU's attorneys laid out a blunt response:
Champion was a 26-year-old leader in FAMU's marching band who knew the dangers of hazing. He had signed an anti-hazing pledge with the university months before he was fatally beaten aboard a charter bus in Orlando on Nov. 19.
He had witnessed two students submit to the brutal ritual immediately before him. And for several months, Champion had debated with his friend and fellow drum major Keon Hollis about whether to go through with it, ostensibly to gain the respect of other band members.
FAMU's legal team contends in the court document filed Monday night that the school should not be blamed when the young man died doing something he knew violated the law and university policy. University attorneys cited Hollis' sworn statement, released last week, that explained the reasons he and Champion agreed to be hazed.
"In the final analysis, neither Mr. Champion, Mr. Hollis, hotel security, nor law enforcement experts — with all their specialized crime prediction and prevention training and resources — were able to predict or prevent this shocking and depraved hazing incident, and therefore, it would be unfair and illogical to hold FAMU to a different and higher level of omnipotence," the document said.
"Respectfully, as a 26-year-old adult and leader in FAMU's band, Mr. Champion should have refused to participate in the planned hazing event and reported it to law enforcement or university administrators. Under these circumstances, Florida's taxpayers should not be held financially liable to Mr. Champion's estate for the ultimate result of his own imprudent, avoidable and tragic decision and death."
The motion is the university's long-awaited response to the Champion family's wrongful-death claim, filed in February against the charter bus company and the bus driver and amended in July to add FAMU as a defendant.
On the same day the university was added to the suit, FAMU President James Ammons announced he was retiring amid the growing scandal over hazing and management of the state's only historically black public university.
Champion's parents, who live in Georgia, say the university is partly to blame for their son's death because it failed to stop a culture of hazing within the Marching 100 band. Three days before Champion's death, the administration chose not to act on a recommendation to suspend the ensemble.
The family is seeking unspecified damages.
A dozen former band members are charged with felony hazing in the death. All 12 have pleaded not guilty to the third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Two more face misdemeanors.
Champion family attorney Christopher Chestnut said he was shocked by the university's defense.
"We cannot ignore the irony and audacity of an institution in blaming Robert for his death," Chestnut said. "Blaming students for hazing allows the culture of hazing to become deadly."
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Wednesday, September 12th 2012 at 3:36AM
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