Penn State student hazing video: Timothy Piazza was given '18 drinks in 82 minutes'

Penn State student Timothy Piazza was given "at least 18 drinks in over 1 hour and 22 minutes," before he sustained a fatal injury while pledging to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity in February.

Prosecutors who have filed new charges against 12 more members of the fraternity said on Monday (13 November) that the charges will range from involuntary manslaughter to aggravated assault and additional alcohol hazing.

A newly recovered video shows the members serving the 19-year-old a large quantity of alcohol. The charges rely on surveillance footage taken during the pledge event on 4 February this year, according to the BBC.

"Based on the video, Tim Piazza was furnished with at least 18 drinks in 1 hour and 22 minutes," Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said at a news conference.

Piazza "never once obtained any of those drinks for himself. Brothers [in the fraternity] were coming up to him and giving him those drinks", Parks Miller added.

After consuming an excessive amount of alcohol, Piazza fell down a set of stairs and sustained injuries that led to his death less than two days after the incident.

Five of 14 members previously charged face additional charges, Parks Miller said. In all 26 Beta Theta Pi members now face charges.

Parks Miller's office in a statement said that fraternity member Braxton Becker deleted footage from cameras in the basement, which captured the alcohol hazing incident.

"He deleted it in front of the police," Parks Miller said.

Forensic analysis showed Becker made "a series of deliberate commands" on the machine to delete footage captured by the cameras in the basement, Parks Miller added, according to the BBC.

Becker has been charged with tampering with evidence, obstructing justice and hindering apprehension.

Footage from cameras upstairs, which showed the hazing ritual, followed by several hours of Piazza stumbling and repeatedly falling was not tampered with.

An attorney for one of the newly charged fraternity members said he is "flabbergasted" that the district attorney is filing more charges now.

"As a human, I have tremendous empathy for the tragedy of the situation. As a lawyer, I don't see a crime here," attorney Bill Brennan said.

"Sometimes tragedies just occur, and they're not crimes," he added.

He would have been home for Thanksgiving

"We have spent the last eight months wondering how this could happen. The visions of him lying in the hospital bed, battered and bruised and on life-support, looking as if he got hit by a tractor-trailer made no sense," said Timothy's father Jim Piazza at a news conference.

Jim who referenced statements by the defendants, who said they did not know what had happened that night said, "Guess what, guys. Now we know."

The senior Piazza said the fact that his son should have been returning home for Thanksgiving break this Friday, makes it a painful time for the family.