Former UTA student who says he was hospitalized due to hazing sues fraternity for $1M
A former student at the University of Texas — Arlington says a fraternity hazed him to the point that he was hospitalized for several days and had to withdraw from school in March, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 8 in Dallas district court.
Roc Riner said that on March 25, the Sigma Chi fraternity forced him to drink copious amounts of alcohol while blindfolded, resulting in him having alcohol poisoning. He is seeking $1 million in relief in the lawsuit.
Riner and his attorney, T Nguyen, filed the suit against the international Sigma Chi corporation, the Risk Management Foundation, the Sigma Chi chapter at UTA and three fraternity members: Alejandro Santana, Lucas Thomason and Travis Willis. The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sigma Chi International Fraternity indefinitely suspended its UTA chapter in May after Riner’s alleged hazing.
In a press release about the suspension, international fraternity president Tommy Geddings said the offenses the chapter committed were “simply too grievous to allow the culture that exists within the group to perpetuate.”
UTA is not listed as a defendant in the suit and officials declined to comment on the case. The university suspended Sigma Chi until May 2024 after finding the chapter violated the university’s hazing and alcohol policies.
Riner was a junior when he pledged to Sigma Chi. On March 25, he and three other pledges went to Thomason’s house where he says Santana — the pledge class adviser — Willis and a fraternity alumnus took his phone, blindfolded him and made him move furniture, do physical exercises for hours and drink liquor and beer, according to the lawsuit.
The fraternity members drove the pledges to the Sigma Chi house, where they led them upstairs to the bathroom, he said. Riner was again blindfolded and forced to dance while others sprayed him with water and yelled into his face for about an hour, he said in the suit.
Riner was then taken outside, where he was forced to get on his knees in front of about 30 people and drink about three-fourths of a 750 mL bottle — equivalent to about 16 shots — of Honey Jack liquor, the lawsuit says. Riner blacked out, but was later told he finished the rest of the bottle.
Riner was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning with a blood-alcohol level of .45 percent, about six times the legal driving limit. University police investigated the incident on March 26. No charges have been filed against those involved.
A week later, UTA’s president suspended all Greek life at the school, citing cases of “hazing, sexual assault, extreme intoxication and other inappropriate behaviors.”
Riner later withdrew from school.
“Mentally and emotionally, it’s affected him in that he trusted these people,” Nguyen said. “We stand outside and say, ‘You ought to know not to do that,’ but when you’re impressionable and you want to belong to a group, you just do everything you need to do to get in.”
Nguyen said Riner blames himself for the hazing, and says the fraternity took advantage of his desire to be accepted. She said Riner’s hazing most likely contributed to UTA President Vistasp Karbhari’s decision to suspend Greek life, which was reinstated in August.
Sigma Chi remains suspended at UTA. The chapter was previously suspended in October 2013 after being investigated for underage alcohol use, student newspaper The Shorthorn reported at the time.
“When an organization allows its members and officers to do this and do this repeatedly, that’s a problem,” Nguyen said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 8:06 PM.
