PVA&M Student’s Dad Says Son Was Beaten

The father of a young man who died while allegedly pledging for a school fraternity says he noticed his son was beaten in the week leading up to his death.

Donnie Wade, a student at Prairie View A&M, died on Tuesday after being taken to the hospital following an early morning fraternity gathering.

“His fraternity asked him how far he was willing to go,” said Wade’s father in an interview with FOX 4 in Dallas. “They let him go.”

The father told KDFW-TV his son woke up at 5 a.m. to go to a pledge meeting at a school track in Hempstead. Wade’s family says a short time later he was taken to the hospital by classmates who saw him fall ill. He was soon pronounced dead.

In the week leading up to Wade’s death, his father said his son was “scared to death” and looked as if he had been beaten. The father also says his son begged him to not tell the school.

Wade was a junior at PVA&M and was pledging the fraternity Phi Beta Sigma, according to the family. They say one of the last things the victim told his mother was that he wanted to become a leader in a fraternity to make a difference.

The school has now suspended all pledging activities as local authorities investigate the case, and Wade’s body has been handed to the medical examiner’s office to determine a cause of death.

Hempstead Police have taken the lead in a criminal investigation and say they want to know whether hazing played a role.

Wade’s fraternity has not commented on the case.

A school spokesman says Wade, originally from Dallas, was a second semester transfer student from Stephen F. Austin University. He was studying to be an OBGYN.

“The entire Prairie View family is saddened by Donnies death,” said Prairie View A&M President George C. Wright in a written statement on Wednesday. “He was an emerging leader and scholar who significantly contributed to the university community.”

The university says it will provide grievance counseling and assistance to university students, faculty and staff.

Wade’s family says their son’s enrollment at the school was a family tradition. His grandmother, mother, and uncles also attended the university.