For children who have gone off to college, coming home for the holidays is an exciting time.
They can reconnect with the familiar and share all their newfound adventures – and hopefully a little of their academic achievements.
However, for one young man his aspirations to see his family for Christmas were heartlessly squashed when perpetrators targeted him.
ABC News reports:
“A Texas State University student is suing the school’s chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity after he was left with brain damage and other severe injuries as a result of fraternity members allegedly attacking him on the street.”
We have all heard of the violence inflicted by fraternity members during some initiation ceremonies. But for some, the danger doesn’t stop there.
The aggressive nature fostered within many fraternities can have consequences that stretch far beyond the Greek inscribed doors.
For Nikolas Panagiotopoulos, 22, that became all too real when he and a friend were walking home one evening.
As they passed a building belonging to the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity’s Eta Rho chapter they were confronted by members and guests sitting outside, according to a petition filed in Travis County District Court.
The rowdy crowd “began to taunt” and “verbally harass” Panagiotopoulos, allegedly due to the “mistaken belief” that he was a member of a rival social club reports ABC News.
After “several minutes” of harassment, Panagiotopoulos tried to leave the hostile environment but was quickly hindered.
In a scary turn of events, the out-of-control fraternity mob attacked the fleeing young man, tackling him to the ground and assaulting him repeatedly.
Attorney Sean McConnell told ABC News, he lives across the street from the fraternity house and was just trying to make it home before he was brutally attacked.
And instead of being compassionate or regretful of their foul actions, the perpetrators left the injured young man on the side of the street, Panagiotopoulos’ attorney, Jay Harvey, told KVUE.
The attack was thwarted after a nearby witness yelled at the fraternity members to stop, warning that she would call the cops if they didn’t leave the scene.
Panagiotopoulos’ injuries were “severe”, McConnell told ABC News, leaving him with traumatic brain injury, skull fracture, mental anguish, and emotional distress.
Sadly, because of the extent of the injuries, Panagiotopoulos was advised by his team of doctors not to fly home to New York for Christmas, and his academics suffered greatly.
Now the family must be denied the happiness of spending the holidays together because of the careless acts of a college social club who put more importance on their identity and reputation than human life.
The lawsuit alleges that the fraternity involved in the attack has a “history of encouraging consumption and overconsumption of alcohol” as well as “encouraging rivalries with members of other fraternities and social clubs” and “encouraging violence” and aggressive behavior, “including taunting and hazing.”
That is quite a rap sheet. And this is the behavior seen all across the nation in popular fraternities, yet they are allowed to prosper.
Panagiotopoulos is seeking $1 million in damages, and two of the fraternity members are being charged with aggravated assault, according to the attorneys.
The college is trying to prevent any future incidents by banning the fraternity from campus for four years, because of their dangerous hazing practices.
Please let us know in the comments section if you think there is still value in maintaining fraternities on college campuses, despite the dark history of violence among many of them.