Three upstate frat boys were charged yesterday with criminally negligent homicide for forcing a 19-year-old pledge from Queens to drink so much beer, champagne and vodka that he died of alcohol poisoning.
Arman Partamian, 19, a sophomore from Flushing, was found face-down on a mattress on March 1 at the off-campus clubhouse of a banned fraternity known around SUNY Geneseo as the Orange Knights or Pigs.
He had been guzzling alcohol for three days as part of an eight-day initiation into the frat. Toxicology tests showed his blood alcohol as 0.55 percent — nearly seven times the legal driving limit of .08 percent. Anything above .40 is regarded as potentially lethal.
Fellow students Alex Stucki, 20, Daniel Wech, 21, and Devin McClain, 21, were charged with hazing, unlawfully dealing with a minor and criminally negligent homicide for encouraging Partamian to drink himself to death. They face up to four years jail.
The frat was banished from campus in 1996 after two students were hospitalized after drinking too much.