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Sheriff: Arrests Coming In FAMU Hazing Death

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4/AP) — Charges are forthcoming for at least five Florida A&M band members in the hazing death of a drum major in Orlando last fall, authorities announced Tuesday.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings told The Associated Press that multiple defendants will be charged in Robert Champion's death, although he refused to say what the charges are.

At least five defendants face a wide range of misdemeanor and felony charges, said Danielle Tavernier, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office in Orlando. She refused to name the charges pending an announcement by prosecutors on Wednesday.

No arrests had been made by Tuesday afternoon. Both Demings and Tavernier said the arrests would likely take place in multiple jurisdictions.

Detectives say Champion suffered blunt trauma blows and that he died from shock caused by severe bleeding after he was hazed by other band members on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel. Hazing that involves bodily harm is a third-degree felony in Florida.

Witnesses in the Champion case have told his parents he might have been targeted because he opposed the culture of hazing they say has long existed in the band. It has also been suggested to them that he was targeted because Champion was gay and a candidate for chief drum major.

Champion's parents dispute the notion that the hazing had anything to do with his sexual orientation.

"The main reason that we heard is because he was against hazing, and he was totally against it," Champion's father, Robert Champion Sr. told the AP.

Champion's parents have sued the bus company that owns the bus where the hazing took place.

Since Champion's death, FAMU and other schools have been under intense scrutiny about how they handle complaints of hazing.

FAMU suspended the band and launched a task force to recommend steps it could take to curtail hazing, the subject of complaints involving the university band for years.

Three FAMU band members were arrested in the Oct. 31 beating of a female band member whose thigh broken.

On Tuesday, a lawyer for two FAMU music professors who allegedly were present during the unrelated hazing of band fraternity pledges in early 2010 said they have been forced out.

Both faculty members had been placed on paid administrative leave in late March after a Tallahassee Police Department report quoted witnesses as saying they were on hand when the hazing occurred at the home of one of the professors in 2010.

Diron Holloway, the band's director of saxophones, and Anthony Simons, an assistant professor of music, resigned last week after receiving notices that they had 10 days to contest their impending dismissals, said attorney Mutaqee Akbar.

"They both decided to resign from the university and pursue other career opportunities," Akbar said.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

 

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