Southwest
College freshman died after fraternity hazing led to ‘horrific’ abuse, family says
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The family of a Texas college freshman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from allegations that fraternity hazing drove him into a mental health crisis that led him to take his own life.
Sawyer Updike, an 18-year-old from Pearland, accepted a bid to pledge the Sigma Chi fraternity through the University of Texas at Austin’s Alpha Nu Chapter in August 2023, according to FOX 7.
Throughout his time as a member of the chapter’s pledge class, Updike was allegedly subjected to months of “horrific hazing” that ultimately drove him to suicide, the lawsuit states.
“This was just an outstanding young man,” Ted Lyon, an attorney representing Updike’s family, told Fox News Digital. “He scored 1410 on the SATs. He was a straight A student in high school.”
FRATERNITY HAZING DEATHS HAPPEN TO ‘GOOD KIDS FROM GOOD FAMILIES,’ VICTIM’S FATHER WARNS AMID RUSH SEASON
Sawyer Updike’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging their son died by suicide due to “horrific hazing” while pledging the Sigma Chi fraternity at University of Texas at Austin in January 2024. (Ted B. Lyon & Associates, PC)
The 6-foot-6 freshman had just made the school’s skeet shooting team and “had the whole world ahead of him,” according to Lyon.
The alleged hazing took place at the Alpha Nu fraternity house in Austin, Lyon said.
“The culture that uses this type of, I call it depraved activity, is not the kind of culture that any major university ought to condone,” Lyon told Fox News Digital.
OHIO HS FACES FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT OVER HAZING, SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS FROM FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER
Sawyer Updike was a high school football player and had just made the University of Texas at Austin’s skeet shooting team when he died by suicide in January 2024, according to Ted Lyon, an attorney representing Updike’s family. (Ted B. Lyon & Associates, PC)
According to the lawsuit, Updike was allegedly subjected to various methods of brutal hazing by members of the fraternity. The acts reportedly consisted of spearing a large fishhook through Updike’s leg, puncturing his hip with a staple gun and pressuring him through fear of punishment to ingest illegal substances, such as cocaine, according to FOX 7.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges members of the fraternity forced Updike to consume harmful amounts of alcohol, repeatedly burned him with lit cigarettes, and subjected the freshman to physical whippings and beatings, the outlet reported.
“We have a picture of the kid that stapled them before he did it,” Bill Johnston, an attorney representing the family, told FOX 7. “I mean, again, they were in some sick way, they were proud of it. They were proud enough to record it.”
FRAT HOUSE WHERE STUDENT WAS ELECTROCUTED IN ALLEGED HAZING HAD LAUNDRY LIST OF KNOWN RED FLAGS: REPORT
An evidence photo provided by the attorney representing Sawyer Updike’s family shows the 18-year-old surrounded by bottles of beer at the University of Texas at Austin. (Ted B. Lyon & Associates, PC)
The psychological damage from the alleged hazing was noticeable to Updike’s parents when he returned home for holiday break in 2023, according to Lyon.
“When he came home at Christmas, his mother and father knew something was wrong,” Lyon told Fox News Digital. “He weighed 192 pounds and looked emaciated, but they didn’t really know what it was. They didn’t know that he was being serially hazed and abused.”
The lawsuit reportedly states that Updike’s mental state was already deteriorating when he was provided with cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms on Jan. 16, 2024, the first day of the second semester of Updike’s freshman year, according to FOX 7.
FRATERNITY SUSPENDED AFTER POSSIBLE HAZING LEAVES UNIVERSITY STUDENT IN CRITICAL CONDITION: REPORT
An evidence photo provided by the attorney representing Sawyer Updike’s family shows injuries allegedly sustained from hazing by the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 2023. (Ted B. Lyon & Associates, PC)
Shortly after he was allegedly provided drugs, Updike drove to a local gas station parking lot and took his own life.
“He committed suicide in January 2024 and, of course, the parents wondered why,” Johnston said. “The mother was able to access his phone, talk to some people, and learn that he had been subjected to extreme hazing.”
While it does not appear Updike personally reported the instances of alleged hazing, at least one complaint regarding the fraternity was lodged with UT that fall semester, FOX 7 reported.
DEADLY WAKE-UP CALL: ALLEGED FRAT HAZING ELECTROCUTION HIGHLIGHTS STUDENT DANGERS IN OFF-CAMPUS HOMES
Following Updike’s death, the university decided to close the Sigma Chi chapter, which had already been placed on deferred suspension due to a separate alleged hazing incident from the previous year, according to FOX 7. Hazing is illegal under Texas law and prohibited by university policy.
“There’s something wrong frankly with someone that would think this is a rite of passage that can be applied to another young person,” Johnston said, FOX 7 reported.
The wrongful death lawsuit names Sigma Chi International Fraternity, Alpha Nu Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin, the Alpha Nu House Corporation and five fraternity members, according to FOX 7.
“UT Austin is committed to providing a safe educational environment for everyone and does not tolerate hazing by any group or individual affiliated with the University,” the University of Texas at Austin said in a statement to FOX 7. “All such allegations receive the utmost attention and thorough investigation.”
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The National Sigma Chi Chapter and UT Austin did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“I live every day with the weight of his absence,” Sawyer’s mother, Sheryl Roberts-Updike, said in a news release, according to FOX 7. “No parent should ever lose a child, and certainly not because of hazing disguised as ‘brotherhood.’ What happened to Sawyer was cruel, senseless, and preventable. It is unbearable to know that a young man with so much promise was put through something so dangerous in the name of belonging.”
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Los Angeles, Ca
Victims sought after man allegedly points gun at passing cars in Santa Clarita Valley
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help finding witnesses after a man allegedly pointed a handgun at numerous passing cars in Castaic on June 18.
The man was allegedly seen pointing the gun at cars near Lake Hughes Road and Ridge Route Road between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The suspect was described as wearing a red shirt and black shorts.
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Did you see this man pointing a handgun at numerous passing cars in the Santa Clarita Valley. (LASD)
Authorities provided a photo of the man seen running in the street while holding something in his left hand.
Anyone who may have witnessed the alleged assaults, is a victim of the incident or has information about the case is asked to call Detective Marinelli at (661) 260-4000 ext. 5618.
Southern California is enjoying a comfortable stretch of below-average temperatures that should continue through Father’s Day, but a strong heat wave is looming.
A significant warming trend will begin early next week before peaking Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Another one of those ridges of high pressure is expected to build in, with temperatures really heating up,” KTLA’s Kirk Hawkins said. “We’re looking at temperatures reaching triple digits in parts of the High Desert and Inland Empire as well.”
An extreme heat watch has been issued for parts of Los Angeles County, including Woodland Hills, Pomona, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and other areas, from Tuesday morning through Thursday evening.
Temperatures in those areas could range from the upper 80s to 100 degrees.
The Weather Service suggested the following actions:
- Continue to monitor the latest forecasts, as the amount of heating is still uncertain
- Adjust plans now to stay cool next week
- Check in with elderly neighbors and family members to ensure they are aware of the hot forecast
The high-pressure system is expected to weaken on Thursday, bringing cooler temperatures as we head into next weekend.
A 48-year-old man who led law enforcement on a dangerous pursuit lasting more than an hour is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths of a man and a woman at an upscale Pomona apartment complex Thursday, police announced.
Officers with the Pomona Police Department responded to the Monterey Station Apartments, located at 180 E. Monterey Ave., near North Garey Avenue, just before 3:30 p.m. on reports of a shooting, according to a department news release.
Police, along with responding Los Angeles County firefighters, found the two victims in a fourth-floor apartment.
Paramedics immediately began life-saving measures, but both victims were ultimately declared dead at the scene, investigators said.
Neighbors told KTLA’s Mary Beth McDade that the suspected shooter, Robert Galtman of Pomona, shot his girlfriend and another resident of the apartment complex.
“He shot the girl, that was the girlfriend,” one woman, a resident of the building who did not want to give her name, told KTLA. “I know them because he had tried to hit on me and told me the situation that she was beating him up and that she cheated on him with this guy, the one that was killed.”
Authorities were searching Galtman, who was believed to be in dark-colored sedan that fled the apartments northbound on Towne Avenue near Holt Avenue.
Just before 5 p.m., officers with the California Highway Patrol spotted his vehicle traveling northbound on the 5 Freeway, officials confirmed to KTLA. When officers attempted a traffic stop, he failed to yield and led authorities on a high-speed pursuit that lasted more than an hour.
During the pursuit, he made a U-turn on the freeway and headed southbound before exiting in Castaic and taking Lake Hughes Road through the hills toward the Antelope Valley.
Sky5 was over the dangerous chase as Galtman was seen tossing unknown items from the vehicle, including some type of liquid, swerving dangerously onto the shoulder and refusing to stop as at least four CHP units followed closely behind.
He initially dodged several spike strips deployed by officers, at one point driving on the shoulder in Lancaster before clipping one of the strips with the vehicle’s left side, causing both tires to deflate.
Still refusing to stop, Galtman continued at about 30 mph until a CHP officer accelerated and performed a PIT maneuver that spun the vehicle and disabled it.
He was quickly surrounded by officers with guns drawn but did not immediately comply.
Following law enforcement commands, Galtman exited the vehicle, surrendered and was taken into custody.
The identities of the two victims are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Authorities have not released a motive in the deadly shooting. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Pomona Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 909-620-2085.
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