This what college marching bands have evolved into:
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3 FAMU students arrested for beating of band member Bria Shante Hunter
Police say hazing involved in case, which predates killing of drum major Robert Champion by three weeks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Tuesday, December 13 2011
nydailynews.com
Robert Champion, a drum major in Florida A&M University's Marching 100 band, performs during halftime of a football game in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 19. Joseph Brown III/AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Three Florida A&M band members were charged Monday in the beating of a woman during hazing rituals that became so severe that her thigh was broken, police said. The beatings came about three weeks before drum major Robert Champion was killed during a band trip to Orlando. Police say hazing was involved.
Tallahassee police said that on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, band member Bria Shante Hunter was beaten with fists and a metal ruler to initiate her into the “Red Dawg Order” — a band clique for students who come from Georgia.
Hunter told police that days later the pain became so unbearable that she went to the hospital. Besides her broken thigh bone, she had had blood clots in her legs.
Sean Hobson, 23, and Aaron Golson, 19, were charged Monday with hazing and battery, and James Harris, 22, was charged with hazing.
Champion’s death and now the arrests have exposed a hazing tradition that has long haunted the university. Former clarinet player Ivery Luckey was hospitalized after he said he was paddled around 300 times in 1998. Three years later, band member Marcus Parker suffered kidney damage because of a beating with a paddle.
After Champion died, the university indefinitely suspended performances by the famed Marching 100 and school President James Ammons has vowed to break what he calls a “code of silence” on the hazing rituals.
Leon County records show that all three were in jail on Monday night. A university spokeswoman confirmed they were students. Attempts to reach listed numbers for the three were unsuccessful.
Police say that the hazing happened at Harris’ off-campus apartment in Tallahassee and that at one point he stopped Golson and Hobson from hitting Hunter further.
Officers said in the arresting documents that Hunter was targeted by the other members of the “Red Dawg Order” because she tried to get out of going to a group meeting. She was repeatedly punched on the tops of her thighs by Golson and Hobson, according to information the police got from others who witnessed the incident.
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