Fraternity says allegations made in Hipps lawsuits ‘not substantiated’

The fraternity that Clemson sophomore Tucker Hipps was pledging before his death says the details that outline his death in two lawsuits filed against the fraternity are not substantiated.

Attorneys with the national office of Sigma Phi Epsilon said in a statement that the “lawsuits filed this week make allegations that have not been substantiated by our investigation or evidence presented to the national fraternity by Clemson University or the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.”

Jimmy Watt, an Oconee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said Thursday he would not comment on the statement from the fraternity. The family, not the sheriff’s office, released assertions about what happened on the bridge before Hipps fell off the S.C. 93 bridge, hit his head on rocks and died.

“We have released all information that we are going to release at this time,” Watt said. “We have been as transparent as we possibly can. Balancing and releasing as much information that we can so that we don’t harm the investigation.”

The lawsuits allege that the 19-year-old Hipps was the victim of a harassing hazing incident during a 2014 pre-dawn pledge run and that Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers attempted to cover up their role in his death by deleting text messages, cellphone calls and – in one case – changing phone numbers.

The lawsuits said the night before the run, Hipps attended a fraternity chapter meeting until 7:30 p.m. and then went to the campus library, where he studied until after midnight. While at the library, the lawsuits said, Hipps received several text messages from Thomas Carter King, one of three named fraternity brothers who are also listed as defendants in the lawsuits, regarding the early morning run.

The lawsuits also say that Hipps was instructed by another fraternity brother to buy 30 McDonald’s breakfasts and 2 gallons of chocolate milk – a meal that would have cost over $100 – for the group. When Hipps said he did not have the money to purchase the meal, the lawsuits assert, he was told to gather money from other pledges.

The lawsuits then allege that a “confrontation” occurred on the bridge between the fraternity brother who instructed Hipps and the pledges to buy the breakfast. King confronted Hipps and “subsequently, Tucker went over the railing of the bridge into the shallow waters of Lake Hartwell head-first,” the lawsuits said.

Requests for comment from national fraternity officials regarding exactly how the information in the lawsuit is not substantiated by evidence from the sheriff’s office were not responded to Thursday.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Fraternity says allegations made in Hipps lawsuits ‘not substantiated’."