As fraternity hazing season approaches, new Missouri law will save lives | Opinion

As we approach the start of fraternity hazing season, a new Missouri law will go a long way to help prevent future tragedies.

On July 10, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed what is now known as Danny’s Law. State Rep. Sherri Gallick and state Sen. Kurtis Gregory co-sponsored the bill, which is intended to incentivize witnesses to hazing incidents to call 911 before the damage is irreversible.

Danny’s Law is named after Danny Santulli, who was a freshman at the University of Missouri when he suffered horrific injuries in a fraternity hazing tradition that left him unable to see, speak, walk or care for himself. Following that October 2021 incident, some of those responsible went to jail. A civil suit was also filed against two dozen defendants, all of whom chose to settle rather than face a jury of their peers.

The tragedy of that night was compounded by the fact that after the hazing took place, no one called 911 or campus security when it was obvious that Danny needed immediate help. The tradition that irreparably changed the lives of many required each pledge to drink an entire bottle of hard liquor, and everyone who organized the event knew that many of the freshmen pledges would end up blackout drunk. Danny was one of the unfortunate victims that night.

After Danny collapsed, he was carried to a couch and left there to fend for himself. He eventually slipped off the couch face first and soon thereafter stopped breathing. All of this took place in a fraternity house filled with fraternity members who had seen it all before. By the time he was finally taken to a hospital in the back of someone’s car and CPR resuscitated his heart, it was too late. He had suffered massive, irreversible brain damage.

The new Missouri law provides immunity from criminal hazing prosecution to the first person who calls 911 seeking help for the victim and stays on the phone providing whatever information is asked for by the operator. The law extends that immunity to anyone rendering aid to the victim such as CPR or clearing an airway while help is on the way.

Some have questioned the wisdom of potentially giving immunity to the one who provided the alcohol to the underage pledge or directly participated in the hazing itself. But ask the parents of Danny Santulli, or the parents of anyone else who died in a fraternity hazing incident, and they will all say the same thing: They would much rather have their child back than prosecute the person who did it. It is not even a close call.

In the past 25 years, more than 100 fraternity pledges have died or been seriously injured because of fraternity hazing throughout the country. Many of those of victims could have been saved with rapid intervention from fire rescue, police or campus security — the same timely help that never came for Danny. Often, it’s because the fraternity members who planned and carried out these dangerous and illegal traditions were too afraid to do anything for fear of prosecution for their actions. Offering immunity under Missouri’s criminal hazing statute is one way to motivate them to call for help quickly. Thankfully, Danny’s Law will help do that.

Missouri is now one of just seven states with such a law. Everyone involved in enacting it can be very proud that they had a direct role in helping prevent similar future tragedies.