Ex-fraternity member paying $500K to parents for Calif college freshman pledge death

Ex-frat member paying $500K for hazing death

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The college fraternity big brother for a freshman pledge who died of alcohol poisoning is paying $500,000 to the parents of the Texas teenager.

Eighteen-year-old Carson Starkey of Austin, Texas, was found dead the morning after the Dec. 1, 2008, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity hazing incident. He was a freshman at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

The Tribune newspaper says 21-year-old Haithem Ibrahim, who pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing in June and was sentenced to 45 days in county jail, settled with Scott and Julia Starkey on Thursday. Ibrahim was initially charged with felony hazing.

Ibrahim was Starkey’s designated big brother in the fraternity who selected the alcohol for Starkey as part of a fraternity drinking event held at a home near campus.

Information from: The Tribune, www.sanluisobispo.com