Virginia university student who drank soy sauce as initiation now in intensive care
- Police investigation after teenager - who also ate dog food - began foaming at the mouth
A student ended up in intensive care after drinking a bottle of soy sauce as part of an initiation ceremony to join a fraternity house at the University of Virginia.
The dare went wrong when 19-year-old John Paul Boldrick began foaming at the mouth and went into seizure a few hours later, police say.
A police investigation is now under way following the student's four-day stay in hospital earlier this month, after he ate an initiation meal which also contained dog food and gefilte fish.
The teenager studying at the University of Virginia, pictured, was taking part in an initiation to join the Zeta Psi fraternity house
The first year student was pledging fraternity to Zeta Psi. A brother at the fraternity, 21-year-old Peter Flynn, told police other members dared the younger man to drink a whole bottle of soy sauce, NBC 29 reports.
They later found him upstairs having a seizure, and he was driven to Martha Jefferson hospital by 21-year-old Robert Laverty, another fraternity member.
Doctors found he was suffering an electrolyte imbalance caused by the large amount of sodium he ingested from the salt-rich soy.
The man had a seizure after drinking a bottle of salt-rich soy sauce similar to the one pictured
Dr Lawrence Philips of the UVA Department of Neurology told NBC 29: 'It can suck water out very acutely depending on how high the sodium level becomes, to the point where the cells are disrupted and may even be killed.'
The man is also believed to have eaten dog food as part of his initiation to join the 163-year-old Zeta Psi fraternity on February 28 according to The Daily Progress.
And The Washington Post reports the meal - a 'pledges-only tradition' at the fraternity - also contained gefilte fish, matzo balls and the soy sauce.
Charges could be brought by police if it is found that members of the historic university house were involved in hazing - the act of abuse and humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group.
According to search warrants seen by NBC 29, on March 1 police began looking for emails concerning traditions, pledging processes and the hazing rituals of Zeta Psi, as well as plans for a meal held on the 28th.
They also searched the fraternity house, where the initiation took place, for any ledgers to show a membership list, any evidence of hazing and the soy sauce container Mr Boldrick drank from.
Police have also requested a warrant for the class transcripts of one of the members, a pre-med student, Fox News reports. They suspect he might have read up on sodium overdoses before the student was taken to hospital.
A university spokeswoman told the Washington Post that if police find any evidence of wrongdoing they will also press charges through the campus judicial system.
Famous former members of Zeta Psi include Ford Motor Company CEO Henry Ford, The New Adventures of Superman actor Dean Cain and grandfather of George W. Bush, Prescott Bush.
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