3 indicted in binge-drinking death of Geneseo State College student
Three young men — two of them Geneseo State College students — were indicted Tuesday in connection with the binge-drinking death of a college sophomore a month ago, authorities said.
Geneseo students Daniel Wech, 21, of Amherst, and Alex Stucki, 20, of Brighton, were arraigned in Livingston County Court along with Devin McClain, 21, of Mount Morris.
After a grand jury inquiry, they were each charged with criminally negligent homicide, which upon conviction could carry a prison sentence of as much as four years, in addition to multiple counts of unlawfully dealing with an underage drinker and hazing.
Stucki faces an additional charge of tampering with evidence for allegedly removing a pledge shirt that Arman Partamian, 19, of Flushing, Queens, was wearing when his body was found. If convicted on both the homicide and tampering charges, he could face up to eight years behind bars.
Partamian was found dead on the morning of March 1 in an unsanctioned fraternity-type social club near the college campus following three days of heavy drinking. He was apparently one of three pledges to the fraternity, known as the “Pigs.”
Livingston County District Attorney Thomas E. Moran said Tuesday that Partamian “died as a direct result of alcohol poisoning.” An autopsy showed that Partamian’s blood-alcohol content was as high as 0.55 percent when he died, nearly seven times the legal limit for driving.
After the arraignment, all three were released on their own recognizance without bail.
Moran said none of the suspects has any known prior criminal record.
Investigators said Partamian had been drinking heavily for two days at the Pig House social club, which was banned by the college in 1996 after two students were hospitalized for excessive drinking, and at another location where some club members live.
On the third day, Feb. 28, he started drinking beer, champagne and vodka in the afternoon before going to a Saturday, Feb. 28, party at the Pig House, where he and two other pledges, one of them a minor, were seen jumping around a bonfire in an obviously intoxicated state.
Students at the party noticed that the three, all under the legal drinking age, were forced to continue drinking more alcohol by Pig House members.
The witnesses told a resident assistant at a college dormitory, who in turn called 911 that night. “The Pigs were forcing these individuals to drink entire bottles of alcohol around the fire, and they were, like falling over and vomiting and just, extreme, like hazing,” the resident assistant told a 911 dispatcher.
The same students who informed the resident assistant are believed to have also sent text messages to the people at the Pig party to let them know the police had been called. By the time a Geneseo village police officer arrived at the party, it had been cleared. Partamian was found in an upstairs room in the Pig House at about 11 a. m. the next day. He was dead when paramedics arrived.
Moran said Partamian’s death has highlighted a “dramatic” problem among Geneseo college students.
“On any given Friday night, you can walk into just about any fraternity, pay $5 and get a cup . . . and drink till you’re stupid,” Moran said.
At the time of Partamian’s death, a grand jury had already been convened to investigate a separate incident involving an underage male who had become so intoxicated at a fraternity house party that he walked into someone else’s home and assaulted a person.
The grand jury began probing the alcohol abuse at sanctioned and unrecognized fraternities at the campus.
Moran said he is determined to put an end to the dangerous drinking practices and hopes the charges against the three young men will send a message.
“What deterrent effect it has,” he said, “we will see soon.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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