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

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.