BOWLING GREEN — Scott Steck thought that Stone Foltz would be fine when he, Jacob Krinn, and a sober driver left the 20-year-old Bowling Green State University student snoring and lying on his stomach in his off-campus apartment, a trash can placed near his head in case he needed to vomit.
“None of us had any reason to believe anything was wrong. Jacob said, ‘He's going to be alright,’ and so we left,” Mr. Steck testified.
Mr. Krinn, 21, of Delaware, Ohio, is one of two defendants on trial this week in Wood County Common Pleas Court. He and Troy Henricksen, 24, of Grove City, Ohio, are accused of hazing Mr. Foltz and his fellow pledges at a fraternity initiation event, known as “Big-Little” night, on March 4, 2021. That hazing, the state has argued, ultimately lead to Mr. Foltz’s death by alcohol poisoning on March 7, 2021.
Mr. Krinn and Mr. Henricksen each face multiple criminal charges, including involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, and hazing, among others.
On Friday, Mr. Steck and three other active members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity testified on behalf of the State of Ohio. Mr. Steck is the first witness to testify thus far as to what happened after Mr. Foltz left the “Big-Little” party that night. The event was held in an off-campus home at 318 Main St, often referred to as “Bando.”
Mr. Steck attended “Big-Little” night as a “Big,” or an active member paired with a new member or pledge in a mentorship role. His ‘Little,’ Shane Hackett, was one of the nine pledges rushing BGSU’s chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, or Pike, alongside Mr. Foltz, in the spring of 2021.
Mr. Steck had only recently rushed Pike in the fall of 2020. His ‘Big,’ like Mr. Foltz, was Mr. Krinn. The three are all from the same hometown and knew of one another prior to attending BGSU.
Like nearly every former Pike pledge to testify so far in the BGSU hazing trial — and there have been many — Mr. Steck testified that he was nervous ahead of his own “Big-Little” event, but had been assured by Jarrett Prizel, the new member pledge educator at the time, that he wouldn’t have to drink if he didn’t want to.
“I didn’t want to feel left out with everybody else drinking and I didn’t want to be the guy that didn’t drink,” Mr. Steck testified of why he did ultimately drink the majority of his 1-liter bottle of Evan Williams, the same “family bottle” that was handed to Mr. Foltz the following semester. All pledges are given the same brand of liquor that their ‘Bigs’ received during their initiation, several former pledges and active members testified.
Prizel, who also testified Friday, was ousted from his role as new member educator and replaced by Mr. Henricksen, a former Pike president, after the fall of 2020. He speculated, on the stand, that this was because active members were unhappy with how he chose to approach the responsibility. New pledge educators are in charge of managing an incoming pledge class, including hosting weekly meetings and organizing pledge events.
Prizel testified that if new members had a concern, they could come to him.
“If they were uncomfortable they didn’t have to do what they were asked, true?” Mr. Henricksen’s defense attorney Eric Long asked.
"Yes, sir,” Prizel said, later adding, “They never really said anything that they didn’t want to do."
Prizel is one of the six additional co-defendants in this case who have already taken plea agreements. He pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and eight counts of misdemeanor hazing last month.
On the night of March 4, 2021, Prizel testified he was “a little annoyed” when Mr. Henricksen said he would not be attending the “Big-Little” night. The news meant he’d be running the show, when he’d rather be focused on bonding with his own little, Nick Pavone, who testified Thursday.
Several photos and videos taken by Prizel were shown to jurors Friday. One featured the bottle he intended to hand off to Mr. Pavone on “Big-Little” night, a fifth of Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka. The caption on the image reads, “Bad day to be a pledge.”
Another photo of Mr. Pavone and Prizel posing together shows Mr. Pavone holding an empty bottle of Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka.
“They said it couldn’t be done,” the caption reads.
In a brief video taken by Prizel, Stone Foltz is captured lying on a couch, heavily intoxicated, near one of several trashcans stationed around the basement of 318 Main St.
In the video, Prizel calls Mr. Foltz “Little Pebble,” a nickname that Prizel said was given to the pledge by Mr. Henricksen.
Later in the day, Mr. Steck testified that at some point in the night he, another pledge named Jacob Kin, his ‘Little,’ Mr. Hackett, and Mr. Krinn carried Mr. Foltz up the stairs from the basement at 318 Main and piled into a car driven by Mr. Hackett.
While Mr. Hackett was a pledge, he did not drink on the night of March 4, 2021, due to a court-mandated drug and alcohol test scheduled close in time to the event.
Mr. Steck told jurors that several active members gave Mr. Hackett a hard time for not drinking that night, though the defense has regularly returned to the fact as evidence that not everyone was coerced into drinking.
At one point, Mr. Steck said he separated his ‘Little’ from the group to avoid active members who wouldn’t leave the fact of his not drinking alone.
Mr. Hackett did not ultimately drink and, as a consequence, was sober to drive Mr. Krinn, as well as Mr. Foltz and Mr. Steck to Mr. Foltz’s apartment when it became clear the highly intoxicated pledge needed to leave the party.
On the drive to Falcons Pointe Apartments, where Mr. Foltz lived, he vomited, Mr. Steck said.
“I had to like sit him up so he didn’t like choke,” Mr. Steck said.
He and Mr. Krinn tried to keep Mr. Foltz awake during the ride. Though Mr. Steck testified that his eyes were closed, he said “Stone was responding, smiling.”
When the group arrived at Mr. Foltz’s apartment, Mr. Steck noticed that Mr. Foltz “was getting more intoxicated very rapidly.”
Mr. Hackett and Mr. Steck carried the pledge up the stairs and deposited him on his couch, while Mr. Krinn placed a trashcan by his head.
“We kind of just sat there for a little bit, like 30 minutes or so, and just talked,” Mr. Steck said.
At first, Mr. Foltz was on his side, but he later rolled over on his stomach. A video taken by Mr. Steck shows Mr. Foltz in this position.
Shortly after leaving him there, they learned that Mr. Foltz was in trouble and that emergency services had been called.
In a group chat with Mr. Steck, Mr. Krinn wrote in response to questions from another active member, “... he was chillin’ ...”
Back at 318 Main St. Mr. Steck and another active member who lived in the home, Canyon Caldwell, began cleaning up the remnants of the party. Both former Pikes testified that their understanding was that this clean-up was in an effort to hide any evidence that might be found by investigators the following morning.
Caldwell of Dublin, Ohio previously pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and eight counts of misdemeanor hazing.
Jurors were released for the weekend shortly before 4 p.m Friday. Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday.
First Published May 20, 2022, 10:51 p.m.
