MARCH 29, 2007

POLICE INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE HAZING

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Lawrence Township Police Department are investigating a possible hazing incident at Rider University that has left an 18-year-old freshman in critical condition.  

Lawrence police were dispatched to House #1 (Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house) on the Rider University campus at 1:52 a.m. Thursday morning on the report of an individual who was vomiting from drinking alcohol and needed to go to the hospital.  Gary Devercelly, 18, of Long Beach, Calif., was transported to Capital Health System, Fuld Campus, where he remains in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit. 

A second university student who had left the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house earlier in the evening was also taken to Capital Health System, Fuld Campus, and treated for alcohol poisoning.  That individual has since been released. 

Additional information will be released as it becomes available.