Police believe WSU fraternity death may be related to hazing

New information has Pullman Police saying that hazing may have contributed to a Bellevue teen’s death at his Washington State University fraternity earlier this month. Police chief Gary Jenkins told KIRO Radio that interviews with students made them change their mind about what happened to Sam Martinez.

“Initially we indicated that we had ruled out hazing but as a result of those additional interviews that is not ruled out at this point. That is a possibility,” he said.

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Pullman police found the student unconscious and not breathing in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity weeks ago. Fraternities and sororities have self-imposed a ban on social events for the rest of the semester.

Chief Jenkins tells us alcohol is also considered a factor in Martinez’s death, but that “Nothing was discovered to indicate any type of an obvious physical cause of death.”

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He says they won’t make a final determination on charges until they get the coroner’s report early next year.

“We intend to conduct a very through investigation to determine all of the facts that lead up to Mr. Martinez’s death to make a determination about whether any criminal charges will be filed.”