Naman Shrestha
In October 2021, Danny Santulli was one of the pledges who attended the “Pledge Father Reveal” party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. However, things went from bad to worse when he got so intoxicated that he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. The entire incident is covered in detail in the episode titled ‘Bingeing To Belong’ of A&E’s ‘Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life,’ which also lets us in on the aftermath. It also features interviews with loved ones of Danny, providing the viewers with an in-depth look into the hazing incident.
Danny Santulli Sacrificed His Well-Being to Become a Part of the Fraternity
Born to Mary Pat and Tom Santulli, Daniel “Danny” Santulli was the youngest of his siblings, which included his sister Meredith Santulli and brother Nick Santulli. After graduating from high school with flying colors, Danny went to the University of Missouri, along with his siblings, for higher studies, but little did he know that soon, it would turn out to be a life-altering decision. Not long after getting admission into the university, he joined a fraternity and pledged Phi Gamma Delta, also known as Fiji. In the weeks that followed, he began losing contact with his siblings and parents as he was made to be sleep-deprived and with declining grades. Reportedly, Danny was made to remain at the fraternity house, where he constantly ran errands for the members at odd hours of the night.
He was also in the hospital after he walked into a trash can full of broken glass upon receiving instructions from a frat member. Following that incident, he broke down in front of his sister Meredith, who consoled him and advised him to leave the fraternity. Regardless of the incident, on October 19, 2021, Danny went to the “Pledge Father Reveal” party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, where he and other pledges were blindfolded, shirtless, and had bottles of alcohol taped to their hands, expected to finish it. Around 9:20 pm, the hazing continued, and after the pledges were taken down to the basement, Danny emerged highly intoxicated, as seen in the surveillance footage. The fraternity members noticed his condition and placed him on a couch.
Danny Was Hospitalized After a Night of Intense Hazing
Unfortunately, the 19-year-old fresher soon lost consciousness and became unresponsive. Deciding not to call 911 to avoid getting into trouble, one of the frat members, Thomas Schultz, took Danny to the nearest hospital and left him in the parking lot. In the early hours of October 20, 2021, Danny was brought into the emergency room at Craig Hospital due to alcohol poisoning. Since he was having a cardiac arrest, his heart was first restarted, and then he was put on a ventilator to get his body stabilized.
Upon further examination, the doctors learned that his blood alcohol was 0.468, which was nearly six times the legal driving limit. When his family was informed of the incident, his siblings visited the hospital immediately while his parents began driving from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to Columbia. In the days that followed the night of hazing, the fraternity’s MU chapter was shut down, and hundreds of students took to the streets and demanded university officials take serious actions and do more to prevent such incidents from happening.
The hazing incident left Danny paralyzed as he was unable to move or communicate. The family attorney, David Bianchi, told Kare11, “We are more than three months since this happened, and he is unable to communicate but he is breathing on his own, and his parents are at his bedside; one of the two parents at his side everyday.” In search of justice for him, his parents filed civil lawsuits against several members of the fraternity, out of whom 11 were criminally charged on June 3, 2022. Five members, including Thomas Schultz, pleaded guilty and served a short period of time in jail.
Danny Santulli is in the Constant Care of His Family Today
Within a year of the hazing incident, Danny Santulli was discharged from the hospital and resided with his family in the Minneapolis area. At the time, he had brain damage and was unable to talk, walk, or see but hear things. His father and he listened to the Yankees and Giants games together as he used to love Giants quarterback Eli Manning and record-breaking Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Moreover, Danny liked to listen to Post Malone, so his father listened to him alongside him while his mother played soothing music. At the time, all they tried to do was keep Danny out of the hospital, which included keeping his throat clear of mucus. Failing to do so leads to vomiting, which further leads to fluids in his lungs.
His family was hopeful as one of the doctors claimed that he might be able to help the patient regain some brain function. A bill named “Danny’s Law” was also proposed, which would make the first person to call 911 and stay with the hazing victim immune from being charged with felony hazing. Two years into the life-altering night in Danny’s life, the family’s attorney Bianchi told KRCG TV, “I’ve never seen such dedicated family members. They take care of him 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at their home. Even though they have the ability to put him in some sort of a facility where he would get professional around-the-clock care, they don’t want to do that.”
Giving an update on Danny’s condition, he stated, “Danny’s doing as well as he can. But his condition has not substantially changed. He cannot see, he cannot speak, he cannot walk. He cannot care for himself. But he knows that his family is there. And in his own ways, he can react to things that they say.” In May 2024, his mother, Mary Pat, addressed the court during the trial of Danny’s pledge dad, Ryan Delanty. She stated, “Every day he gets stronger; he continues to fight his way through this to come back to us,” she said. “Each day we see small, little changes and every day we celebrate those. Every day we get up for Danny and he makes us all a better family and better people.”
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