On December 2, 2008, 18-year-old Carson Starkey was involved in a fraternity ritual at San Luis Obispo's California Polytechnic State University. As part of an iniation hazing, he was compelled to drink large quantities of alcohol. After becoming unresponsive, instead of taking Starkey to the hospital,Sigma Alpha Epsilon members left him to sleep it off on a mattress, out of fear of getting themselves in trouble. Starkey never woke up.
Starkey died from acute alcohol poisoning; his blood alcohol level was .40. Several of the fraternity members received jail time for their involvement in his death.
Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of Starkey's death. KCBX’s Tyler Pratt recently sat down with his parents, Scott and Julia Starkey, along with Michael Eberhard of WITH US. They talked about what's changed in the past ten years, the organizations Starkey's parents created to help foster that change, and what's being done this week to remember him and to keep a death like his from happening again.