The parents of a former Missouri student have said he is “alive for a reason” after experiencing a horrific hazing ordeal that left him blind and unable to speak or walk.
Danny Santulli was forced to drink so much alcohol at a Phi Gamma Delta fraternity party in October 2021 that he suffered permanent brain damage.
Three years later, his father, Tom Santulli, said the family is on “a mission” to ensure the students responsible face serious charges.
“I personally want to see specific kids get crimes,” Santulli told Fox News Digital. “That will wake them up. A crime won’t wake them up.”
“I think Danny is alive … because other kids weren’t as lucky when there was hazing,” he added. “He’s alive for a reason.”
Danny Santulli is now blind, unable to speak and confined to a wheelchair as a result of brain damage he sustained during a brutal initiation night last October.
Before: Danny is shown in 2020, before the hazing incident left him permanently disabled
Santulli added that he forced himself to watch the harrowing surveillance footage of his then 18-year-old son passing out during Pledge Dad Reveal Night.
“People ask, ‘Are you sure you want to see it?’ Yes, I want to see what happened to my son,” he explained.
‘I want to see the abuse. I want to see exactly what happened. And yes, I was shocked. But on the other hand I said, ‘I’m glad [I saw it].
Danny had been forced to drink an entire bottle of vodka and Tito’s beer hours earlier, stopping his breathing for so long that he suffered severe brain damage.
The footage also shows Danny being led down a flight of stairs in the student house in a line of shirtless, blindfolded freshmen.
His mother, Mary Pat, described Danny’s last interactions with the family in the days leading up to the fateful evening of October 19, 2021.
“Before the incident he was severely sleep deprived,” she said.[The fraternity was] empty his account… He was very exhausted…
‘At that point I spoke to him and said, ‘Danny, you don’t have to go through this. You can stop. You have to do what’s best for you.’
“He was… quiet about it. And then, two days later, this happened… I just couldn’t believe what happened that night.”
Danny is shown with a bottle of Tito’s in his hand on the evening of October 2021
Danny is shown lying half-collapsed on the couch in the student house after passing out
Danny Santulli is shown above as he is carried to a car to be driven to the hospital on Oct. 20 after a brutal night of hazing at his University of Missouri fraternity.
She urged parents to stay in touch with their children as they attend college and to research the student organizations they join.
This is real, [this] is happening [to other students]’ she told Fox News Digital.
“It will continue if brotherhoods and sisterhoods continue. People need to be educated and we need to talk to our children. We need to let them know what’s going on.
Danny Santulli became disabled after a brutal hazing incident within a student association in October 2021
‘[Parents] must investigate and find out whether any of these student associations have committed any violations in the past and what their criminal record is.’
The gruesome footage from October 2021 shows the moment Danny’s fraternity realizes he is seriously ill, before carrying him to a car to take him to hospital.
By the time he got there, he had stopped breathing long enough to cause severe brain damage. Authorities said his blood alcohol content was 0.486, six times the legal limit.
Danny now lives at home with his parents and requires 24-hour care. His family estimates his medical bills are over $2 million.
Ryan P Delanty, who was Santulli’s “promise father” on the night of the incident, was sentenced to six months in prison in May after pleading guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor and hazing.
The sentence was part of a plea agreement and Delanty will also serve six months of house arrest.
Santulli now requires 24-hour care, which his family says has cost him about $2 million.
Ryan P. Delanty faces up to six months in prison for October 2021 incident after pleading guilty to hazing
Samuel Gandhi (left) and Alec Wetzler (right) have now also been named as suspects by the family of Danny Santulli, a teenager whose family says he was forced to drink until his heart stopped last October during Phi Gamma Delta’s pledge month. Both pleaded guilty in 2023
Hazing is a Class A misdemeanor in Missouri unless the act poses a significant risk to the life of the student or prospective member, in which case it is a Class C misdemeanor.
Another fraternity member, Thomas Shultz of Chesterfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty in April 2023 to providing alcohol to a minor.
He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, two years probation, community service and a drug and alcohol education program.
Samuel Gandhi and Alec Wetzler also pleaded guilty in 2023 to supplying alcohol to a minor.
The fraternity has since closed. Santulli’s family members filed a civil lawsuit against the fraternity and 23 members, which was settled in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.