Heartbroken parents of teen who killed himself after ‘horrific hazing’ sue fraternity: ‘It was cruel and senseless’
A University of Texas freshman took his own life after months of ‘demeaning and cruel hazing’ which saw him burned with cigarettes and beaten, a lawsuit claims. Sawyer Lee Updike was allegedly ‘speared with a fishhook’ during an alcohol-fueled event and had his hip pierced with a staple gun, according to the filing from his parents. The lawsuit also alleges that he was forced to take cocaine. Updike, 18, died alone in a convenience-store parking lot just months after joining UT Austin’s Sigma Chi’s Alpha Nu.