A University of Missouri fraternity has been shut down after a hazing incident in 2021 left student Daniel Santulli permanently blind, paralyzed, and unable to speak.
Daniel “Danny” Santulli was a 19-year-old freshman in 2021.
He took part in a pledge event at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, known as Fiji, at the University of Missouri on October 19 that year.
He had a bottle of vodka taped to his hands and was made to drink it, along with some beer, as part of the ritual.
The aftermath was horrifying, and permanent.
Security footage shows the teen losing his balance and falling backwards around 11pm. Fraternity members are then seen carrying him to a nearby sofa. At one point Santulli is seen falling off the sofa and not being placed back on it for 15 minutes.
After over an hour the fraternity members finally decided to take him to the hospital by themselves instead of calling for emergency medical help. Footage shows Santulli being dropped during the process of him being carried into the car.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, he was in cardiac arrest and not breathing.
Blood tests taken there later measured his blood alcohol content at 0.486%, roughly six times the legal limit.
The heartbreaking aftermath of a horrifying night
Santulli spent the following six weeks in intensive care before being transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. He lived, but the brain damage he suffered left him permanently unable to walk, speak, or see.
His family’s attorney has described it as one of the most severe fraternity hazing injuries recorded in the country.
The legal outcome of the situation
Court documents show that Ryan Delanty, who served as Santulli’s assigned “pledge dad” that night, sent a text to a friend shortly after Santulli collapsed, saying, “My son is dead.”
He pleaded guilty in 2024 to reduced misdemeanor charges related to hazing and providing alcohol to a minor. He was sentenced to six months in jail followed by six months of house arrest.
According to his lawyer, Stephanie Fortus, he is remorseful.
“He knows how devastating this has been to Danny’s family. He knows the injuries that Danny has suffered. He understands the recklessness of handing him that bottle of vodka that night. There is not a minute that goes by that he doesn’t wish that could change.”
Santulli’s brother, Nick, wasn’t convinced though, when speaking during a victim impact statement in court.
