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The horrifying hazing of Danny Santulli: Months after incident teen still can't walk, talk or see

The freshman suffered alcohol poisoning during an initiation ceremony in October at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house located on the campus

A University of Missouri student who sustained brain damage after being forced to drink an entire bottle of vodka at a hazing ceremony is still unable to see, walk, or communicate in any manner.

Danny Santulli, 19, is under the care of his parents in Eden Prarie, Minnesota after spending months in a Colorado rehabilitation hospital. His mother has reportedly quit her high-paying bank job to care for her son full time. The freshman suffered acute alcohol poisoning during an initiation ceremony in October at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house on the university campus, known as Fiji.

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Santulli's parents have sued the fraternity, saying the entire pledge class was forced to drink a bottle of hard liquor given to them by their "pledge fathers." The student was subsequently left unresponsive and found in cardiac arrest after frat members dropped him off at the university's hospital. Eight months after the incident, the teenager is back home but his condition remains the same. "He has massive brain damage. He's blind. He's unable to walk or communicate," Santulli's attorney David Bianchi told the Columbia Tribune.

His parents have settled a lawsuit with 22 defendants against the fraternity, which has reportedly been banned from the campus for repeated violations. Bianchi, on Monday, June 6, filed a motion to add fraternity brothers Samuel Gandhi and Alex Wetzler in an amended petition, which was approved by Judge Joshua Devine. According to the petition, Wetzler put a funnel into Santulli's mouth and poured beer down his throat, forcing him to drink an excessive amount of alcohol. Bianchi claims Gandhi walked away from Santulli after initially trying to assist him when he realized that the freshman was dangerously intoxicated.

The lawsuit alleges that Gandhi walked into the room at 12:17 am and saw Santulli hadn't moved from where he had left him. Doctors would later find the teenager's blood-alcohol content was 0.486 percent, more than six times the legal limit for driving. "At 12:28 am, Danny slid partly off of the couch and ended up with his face on the floor but he had no voluntary control of his arms or legs and remained there until someone passing through the room saw him and put him back on the couch," the amended petition states. "His skin was pale and his lips were blue, yet no one called 911."

Santulli was later taken to MU Hospital in one of the frat brothers' cars but he was already in cardiac arrest by then. According to Bianchi, hospital staff performed CPR and was able to restart Santulli's heart, but he remained "unresponsive, unaware of his surroundings, unable to communicate and (with) a significant injury to his brain." Wetzler has since been charged with misdemeanor counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor. The lawsuit states that fraternity member Ryan Delanty had been designated Santulli's "pledge dad" at the hazing. He is said to have texted a friend at 10:57 pm that day, saying, "My son is dead." When the friend asked what happened, Delanty replied, "I left him."

Wetzler's initial court appearance for the criminal charges is scheduled for July 5.