ORLANDO, Fla. — Robert Champion was known for his opposition to the hazing rampant in the Florida A&M University marching band, but he was vying to be lead drum major and wanted the respect he could earn by enduring a brutal ritual known as “crossing over.” With chances for initiation ending with the football season, fellow band members say, Champion agreed to run through a gantlet of people kicking and beating him with drumsticks, mallets and fists aboard a bus.
The decision would be fatal.
Interviews with the defendants in Champion’s death and other band members released Wednesday paint the most detailed picture yet of what happened the night he died in November. They also offer some insight into why Champion, who his parents and friends say was a vocal opponent of hazing, relented and got aboard “Bus C,” the band’s notorious venue for hazing after its performances at FAMU football games.
Champion wanted the band’s top position, leading dozens who already had endured the hazing. The Marching 100 has performed at Super Bowls and presidential inauguration parades, and some felt the leadership position had to be earned.
“It’s a respect thing …,” defendant Jonathan Boyce told police. “Well, he was wanting to do it all … all season.”
What awaited him was a punishing scrum in which about 15 people pushed, struck, kicked and grabbed at participants as they tried to wade down the aisle from the bus driver’s seat to touch the back wall, according to the interviews. One witness said bigger band members waited at the back to make the final few steps the most difficult. Several others who went through it said the ordeal leaves participants dizzy and breathless at a minimum.
After the hazing, Champion vomited and had trouble breathing. He fell unconscious and couldn’t be revived. An autopsy concluded Champion suffered blunt-trauma blows to his body and died from shock caused by severe bleeding.
Thirteen band members have been charged with causing Champion’s death Nov. 19. Eleven defendants face a count of third-degree felony hazing, and two others have been charged with misdemeanors.
The team has been suspended at least until next year, and its director resigned this month.
