After months in rehab, triggered by an intense instance of hazing at the University of Missouri, a former fraternity pledge is finally back home — though he is still unable to communicate, walk or even see.
Danny Santulli was a freshman and aspiring member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, commonly known as “Fiji,” when the incident unfolded during an October 2021 party. The 19-year-old student was allegedly force-fed beer through a tube and ordered to down a bottle of vodka by his brothers, which resulted in a severe case of alcohol poisoning.
“He has massive brain damage,” his lawyer, David Bianchi, told the Columbia Daily Tribune Tuesday, adding that his mother has been forced to quit her job to provide him full-time care.
In the weeks after the party, Phi Gamma Delta was booted from campus and the University of Missouri sanctioned 13 members of the fraternity. Santulli’s family also filed a lawsuit against the frat and 22 people over the incident, which has since been mostly settled.
In a court hearing earlier this week, Bianchi requested to add fraternity brothers Samuel Gandhi and Alec Wetzler to the lawsuit in an amended petition.
“We didn’t know about them when we filed the original lawsuit,” he told Judge Joshua Devine.
According to the petition, filed on Monday, Wetzler forced Santulli to drink excessive amounts of alcohol when he put a tube into the pledge’s mouth and rapidly poured beer down his throat. Gandhi, meanwhile is accused of walking away from Santulli after offering some assistance, despite the fact that he was still visibly intoxicated.
When Gandhi returned to the room after the party, in the early hours of Oct. 20, Santulli had not moved at all.
“At 12:28 a.m., Danny slid partly off of the couch and ended up with his face on the floor but he had no voluntary control of his arms or legs and remained there until someone passing through the room saw him and put him back on the couch,” according to the amended petition.
“His skin was pale and his lips were blue, yet no one called 911.”
Eventually, one of the fraternity brothers drove him to MU Hospital. Santulli was in cardiac arrest when he arrived, but hospital officials were able to restart his heart.
He remained in the care of his parents as of Wednesday at their home in Minnesota.
Devine, before approving the amended lawsuit, first approved dismissal of most of the defendants sought by Bianchi, who cited settlement agreements. The lawyer noted that only Wetzler and Gandhi would remain listed as defendants in the case.
So far, the only criminal charges filed in the case have been against Wetzler. He’s facing misdemeanor counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor.
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