Westwood Man, 9 Others Charged In LSU Fraternity Pledge's Death

BATON ROUGE, LA — A Westwood native is among 10 people arrested Wednesday on hazing charges stemming from the Sept. 14 death of Louisiana State University fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver, university officials said. Patrick Forde, 20, faces a charge of misdemeanor hazing. He was not enrolled at LSU this semester, but had previously been, according to CBS Boston.

Gruver, an 18-year-old freshman at LSU, was "highly intoxicated" when fraternity members laid him on a couch and left the house, authorities said. He died a day later at a hospital.

An autopsy showed Gruver's blood-alcohol content when he died was 0.495 — more than six times the legal limit for driving, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark said Wednesday.

Matthew Alexander Naquin, 19, of Boerne, Texas, has been charged with negligent homicide and hazing in Gruver's death, LSU said in a statement. In addition to Forde, the eight suspects facing only hazing charges are Zachary Castillo, of Gretna; Sean Paul Gott, of Lafayette; Sean Pennison, Mandeville; Hudson Kirkpatrick, Baton Rouge; Elliott Eaton, of New Orleans; Nicholas Tavlli, of Cypress, Texas; Zachary Hall, of Charlotte, North Carolina; and Ryan Isto, who is from Canada.

SEE ALSO: LSU Fraternity Pledge Death: 10 Arrested On Hazing Charges

The 10 suspects turned themselves in to LSU police on Wednesday, university spokesman Ernie Ballard said. The hazing charges against all 10 men, whose ages range from 18 to 21, are misdemeanors.

Gott and Forde are not enrolled at LSU, according to Ballard.

The arrests "underscore that the ramifications of hazing can be devastating," LSU President F. King Alexander said in a statement.

"Maxwell Gruver's family will mourn his loss for the rest of their lives, and several other students are now facing serious consequences - all due to a series of poor decisions," he added.

Gruver died at a Baton Rouge hospital after he was found on a couch at the Phi Delta Theta house by fraternity members, who couldn't tell if he was breathing, police said. The coroner determined Gruver died of acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration; an autopsy found he inhaled vomit and other fluid into his lungs.

The death was ruled an accident.

Witnesses told police the fraternity's pledges were forced to drink on the night before Gruver's death during a game or initiation ritual called "Bible Study," which required pledges to drink if they incorrectly answered questions about the fraternity.

A witness told police that Gruver was "highly intoxicated" when fraternity members laid him on a couch and left the house early on Sept. 14. Around 11 a.m., members found Gruver still on the couch with a weak pulse, police said. Two people drove him to a hospital, where he died later that day.

The fraternity's national office said it closed the chapter after Gruver's death.

MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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