A pair of lawsuits claim that Tucker Hipps plunged to his death right after he fought with a fraternity brother for not bringing the active members McDonald’s.
A 19-year-old Clemson University student plunged to his death off of a bridge after he angered his fraternity brothers by not bringing them McDonald's breakfast, a new pair of lawsuits allege.
The lawsuits, filed by the family of Tucker Hipps on Monday asked for $25 million in damages in each.
Greg and Cynthia Hipps filed the lawsuits, which for the first time name one of the students involved in the incident as Samuel Carney, the son of Democratic U.S. Rep. John Carney of Delaware. Also named in the suits are fraternity brothers Thomas King and Campbell Star, the school, and Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Hipps body was found floating in Hartwell Lake on Sept. 23, 2014. The school said in a press release at the time that Hipps vanished while on a group run with his fraternity.
The lawsuits are not specific about what actually caused Hipps to fall into the water, but make damning new allegations about the actions of the fraternity brothers directly before and after he fell.
Hipps was the only child of his parents, who described him in the lawsuits as an accomplished high school athlete and a "bright young man."
Hipps enrolled at Clemson in the fall of 2014, and soon began rushing the fraternity. He was then appointed pledge class president, which required he act as a "liaison" between the pledges and the active brothers.
Part of rushing the fraternity, according to the lawsuits, was performing menial tasks for the brothers such as running errands, cleaning, and buying food, which required pledges to spend their own money. As the head of his pledge class, Hipps often arranged such tasks.
In September, Sigma Phi Epsilon learned it may be suspended from campus for suspected "hazing and sexual misconduct," the lawsuits say.
Members contacted the school and asked if they could conduct an early-morning group run, which is against hazing policy. They did not hear back, so decided to go ahead, according to the lawsuit.
A fraternity brother named Bryan Golnek then allegedly texted Hipps and asked him to bring 30 McDonald's biscuits, 30 McDonald's hash browns and 2 gallons of chocolate milk to the fraternity house before the run.
Hipps allegedly responded he didn't have enough money to pay for all of the food. He was told to get his pledge brothers to help, but the group showed up to the run without the food.
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