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Kordel Davis Speaks To GMA About His Attempts To Seek Help For Timothy Piazza

Former member of Beta Theta Pi Kordel Davis spoke to Good Morning America Sunday about his pleas to call for help for Timothy Piazza after his first fall at the Beta Theta Pi house, which were similarly documented in the grand jury presentment (page 43-44) of what happened during the night of bid acceptance at the fraternity.

Davis, who had his own fall during his bid acceptance night in September of 2016, told his story of Piazza’s fatal night.

“I walked into the room and I saw Timothy lying on the couch,” Davis told ABC News. “At first I’m thinking he had way to much to drink. He could have alcohol poisoning.”

Davis walked into the room at 11:14 on the house’s video recordings, approximately 28 minutes after Piazza’s first fall down the stairs. He was informed of what had happened to Piazza and began visibly gesturing to brothers around Piazza.

“Everybody was surrounding him, basically laughing, pointing,” he said. “Right away I started freaking out. Tim fell and he’s just lying on the couch. If Tim fell, he does not need to be on the couch … he needs to go to the hospital. We need to call 911.”

According to the grand jury presentment, brother Jonah Neuman “rose from the couch and shoved Davis into the opposite wall” after Davis made his pleas. Neuman told Davis to leave and that they had it under control.

“They said ‘no you’re overreacting. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I said ‘no I really do know what I am talking about. He could have a concussion,'” Davis said.

“I was told it was going to be handled their way. I was told that they had the situation under control and that my help was not needed and that my opinions were not relevant and not needed. I was told it was all a myth, I was overreacting, and I was crazy. They thought calling for help was just unnecessary.”

In the grand jury presentment, Beta Theta Pi vice president Ed Gilmartin admitted, despite initially denying Davis approached him at all, that he told Davis “it’s a myth” that a person could go into a coma from going to sleep with a concussion.

“So basically, it seemed like they just wanted to make sure they themselves were safe,” Davis said. “Rather than Tim truly being safe.”

Davis testified to detectives that he had a fall on his own bid acceptance night in September.

He was late to the social because he had an exam and missed several noted drinking rituals of the night. When he arrived, brothers advised him to “catch up” to the rest of the pledges who had been drinking most of the night.

Davis later fell and hit his head, resulting in a gash above his left eye and profuse bleeding. Brothers got him up and took him to Urgent Care, but never called 911.

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About the Author

Steve Connelly

Unfortunately, former editor Steve Connelly has graduated. Where is he now? He might be doing something related to that PR degree he got in 2019. Maybe he finally opened that sports bar named after one of his photos, the Blurry Zamboni. Or he might just be eating chicken tenders and couch surfing. Anything’s possible. If you really want to know, follow him on Twitter @slc2o.

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