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UT spirit group event hours before student's wreck involved paddling, animal cruelty, family says

Family members who believe a student was hazed hours before getting involved in a wreck that ultimately took his life are revealing details about their allegations against a UT student group.

AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN -- Relatives of a University of Texas student who died a month after he was grievously injured in a crash returning from a Texas Cowboys off-campus retreat say they learned he was paddled with a stick during hazing rituals, leaving welts on his body that were still visible at the time of his death.

At the same retreat, the family of Nicholas Cumberland said, another new member of the group bit off the head of a live hamster at the urging of older members.

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Cumberland’s family released their findings, the details of which have not previously been reported, to the American-Statesman this week. The family told the newspaper and other media outlets last month that they had discovered in conversations with people who attended the retreat that hazing had occurred in the hours before the wreck that led to the death of Nicholas, a 20-year-old majoring in business, finance and radio-television-film.

To read the full report from the Austin American-Statesman, click here.

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