The family of a Florida A&M University band member who died in an alleged hazing incident is suing Branford, Florida-based Fabulous Coach Lines. According to CNN, the attorney representing the family of Robert Champion Jr. alleges Fabulous Coach Lines was negligence and wrongful in Champion’s death.
Champion, a 26-year-old Florida A&M University drum major, was found unresponsive aboard a bus after a football game on Nov. 19. Police ruled the death a homicide from hazing. An autopsy concluded that Champion suffered blunt trauma blows to his body and died from shock due to severe bleeding. The investigation continues.
The Champion family attorney claims the air conditioning system on the bus was running at the time of Champion’s death, and the bus driver may not have been on board.
Quoted on CNN.com, Ray Land, president of Fabulous Coach Lines, said, “We did transport our passengers safely from point A to point B as contracted.” When employees were notified of an emergency on board one of the nine buses in the convoy, “we responded just as quickly and effectively as we could.”
The National Black Justice Coalition, the nation’s largest Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Champion’s death as a potential anti-gay hate crime. Recently, Champion’s family revealed he was gay.