Arrests raise question of whether Red Dawgs used Bus C as payback for previous hazing

big rattler
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Months after the hazing ritual that took Robert Champion’s life on Nov. 19, there are still questions concerning why he was beaten more severely than the other pledges that night. Christopher Chesnut, the attorney representing Champion’s parents, has said it was probably due to retaliation.

“Our investigation to date suggests from the witnesses we spoke to that Robert may or may not have been hazed more severely than other folks on the bus that evening in large part due, somewhat to, it’s retaliatory,” Chestnut said at a press conference. “Retaliatory not in the form that Robert was hazing himself. But from what we’ve learned is he may or may not have been hazed more severely because he was a stickler for the rules. Because in a culture of hazing, you kind of have to subscribe to it. Robert Champion was the poster child of anti-hazing.”

But the media spotlight on the Red Dawg Order has brought renewed attention to rumors that certain band members might have carried grudges against Champion because he had allegedly hazed them in the past.

ESPN, FOX 5 Atlanta, and the Florida Times-Union have all reported that Champion was a member of the Red Dawg Order, an unauthorized organization with a reputation for hazing.

“It was known that some viewed Champion as lame or a kiss-ass because of his outspoken opposition to hazing, although -- years earlier, as a freshman -- he'd been initiated into the Red Dawg Order, a sizable band subgroup of members from Georgia,” ESPN investigative reporter Mike Fish wrote.

Aaron Golson, 19, one of the 11 band students arrested on a felony hazing charge in the Champion case, also faces charges in the hazing of Red Dawg pledge Bria Hunter.

Two of the drum majors who were booked for felony hazing against Champion are also from Georgia. They are Former Head Drum Major Jonathan Boyce, 24, and Shawn Turner, 26. The FAMUan reported that Boyce and Turner were expelled from the university on Nov. 29 “in connection to the Robert Champion incident.”

The justice process requires that the full truth be known. If Champion previously hazed some of the individuals who are charged in his hazing homicide, that information should be shared with detectives and prosecutors. It could help give at least a partial explanation for the motive behind the crime.

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8Comments

  1. Could it be simply that he was a freshmen drum major who dropped his mace during the biggest halftime show of the season?

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  2. Bus C and Red Dawg has nothing to do with each other. He didnt do bus c because he dropped his mace. Doing bus c was Robert choice. People need to stop trying to connect the dots and take it for what it is.

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  3. Why do people have to make assumptions about something they know nothing about. Anyone who knew Robert knew he was not a hazer! The media is trying to tarnished his name in order to take attention off what really happened! He did something he shouldn't have and the people involved went too far for whatever reason. Whether they thought he was strong enough to handle it or whatever! They killed him!
    People drink and drive all the time, knowing its against the law. If they kill someone while driving under the influence, they pay the consequences point blank. Whether they have prior convictions or not!

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  4. Hazing is a Choice! 29 is an age where can't nobody force you to do anything you don't want to do. I'm sure he never expected to die but he CHOSE to participate!

    And Robert was there when I was there 01-05, freshman who???!!!

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  5. Robert is against hazing but yet volunteered to do Bus C. So which one is it? I know he didn't ask to die and justice should be served, but it was proven that he willingly did Red Dawg and Bus C both which haze. #ijs

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    Replies
    1. Hazing and being hazed is not the same thing, and clearly your not a Red dawg or you would know the difference. Plus you clearly don't understand what dm meant to him, if it pushed him to do bus C. A choice that cost him his life, at least leave his name in tact!

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  6. It's not about the choice, it's about the result! Someone died and there are consequences that should come as result! Choice has nothing to do with the outcome and that statement shows the lack of knowledge of people and hence the reason: why the hundred is in the situation it is now!

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  7. This is what happens when there's no oversight over organizations like the 100'rd. Surely, but true you all have proved Castell right about the shinanagans that were going on within the band.

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