Among the three cases of criminally negligent homicide connected with the Feb. 28 alcohol overdose death of SUNY Geneseo sophomore Arman Partamian, one has been disposed and two are still pending in court, with defendants yet to enter their pleas.
One month after Partamian’s death, Devin McClain, Alex Stucki and Daniel Wech, members of the PIGS organization, were indicted by a Livingston County Grand Jury on an assortment of charges including nuisance, hazing, unlawfully dealing with a child, and, most significantly, criminally negligent homicide.
In Wech’s case, the homicide charge was dismissed by the judge in consideration of the fact that Wech was not present during the evening drinking activities which directly led to Partamian’s death. (One witness account did have Wech and another member of the PIGS carrying Partamian, snoring and asleep, to an upstairs room on the evening of his death.)
Wech did plead guilty to unlawfully dealing with a child and hazing, ‘A’ and ‘B’ level misdemeanors, for which he was sentenced last week. Wech will be spending three months of weekends in the Livingston County Jail for his role in Partamian’s death. McClain and Stucki have upcoming appearance dates in Livingston County Court on Oct. 22.
Witness accounts have Stucki including Partamian in games of “dizzy bat” and “beer football” at his 33 North Street apartment on the afternoon prior to Partamian’s death, and present after Partamian passed out in the evening at the PIGS clubhouse at 4359 Lower Court Street, then present again in the morning, making the E911 call when Partamian was unresponsive. Witness accounts have McClain serving vodka to Partamian at the clubhouse in the evening.
None of the three defendants are associated any longer with SUNY Geneseo. Wech and Stucki, who were students, are no longer enrolled and did not graduate. McClain, a former worker in the college dining hall, is no longer employed by the Campus Auxiliary Services.
Meanwhile, the plague of underage drinking has not abated. Geneseo Police have completed an investigation of a Delta Kappa Tau rush party at 17 Franklin Street on Sept. 9, after which five underage students went to the hospital with alcohol overdoses. On Oct. 14 the police will present evidence before a Livingston County Grand Jury, which may produce indictments of DKT executive officers.
The Geneseo Police Department is investigating a total of 13 incidents of college student underage drinking occurring since the beginning of the fall semester.
