Police probing new Florida A&M hazing case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Authorities are investigating another possible case of hazing connected to Florida A&M University band.

The Tallahassee Police Department has opened an investigation into the alleged battery of 18-year-old Bria Shante Hunter.

Hunter's parents told Atlanta's WXIA-TV on Tuesday that the freshman clarinet player suffered a fractured thigh bone and damaged knee. They say when she returned to Georgia she couldn't bend her legs.

Officer David Northway confirmed they are investigating whether the injuries came from hazing.

A police report states the alleged battery started Sept. 15 and continued through Nov. 7, shortly before drum major Robert Champion collapsed outside an Orlando hotel and died. Investigators have linked his death to hazing.

The new allegations came the same day that hundreds of people mourned Champion at an Atlanta-area church.

Suspected Florida A&M hazing victim mourned

The 26-year-old junior was found dead Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after the school's football team lost to a rival. Police said Champion, a clarinet player, had been vomiting and complained he couldn't breathe shortly before he collapsed, but they have not released any other details.

Hunter's father told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was at Champion's funeral and could not immediately comment.

Since Champion's death, the band director at the historically black university in Tallahassee has been fired. The school has announced an independent probe, and the university president said he will work to end the long practice of hazing in the marching band.

The group that oversees Florida's public universities announced Tuesday it wanted to investigate whether the school did enough to respond to hazing.

Champion fell in love with music when he was about age 6. He started in bands in middle school and his mother said he was so enthusiastic about performances she called him "Mr. Band."

The Florida A&M band, known as the "Marching 100," was one of the most prominent in the nation. The band has performed at Super Bowls, the Grammys and presidential inaugurations.

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