FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The mother of the University of Kentucky student found dead at a fraternity after drinking a large amount of alcohol in 2021 testified in front of state lawmakers Thursday, calling on them to pass a law that makes hazing a crime in Kentucky.
“I beg you to please consider this bill,” said Tracy Hazelwood, the mother of Lofton Hazelwood. “We need ‘Lofton’s Law’ in place as soon as possible. It’s not going to bring my son back but it might save somebody else’s son.”
Lofton died in October 2021 while at the Farmhouse Fraternity at UK, which has since been shut down. In front of the state’s judiciary committee, she recounted the hazing her son experienced as he pledged the fraternity.
“Then, they had to chew tobacco and not spit it until they vomited, then they had to report to the house super early while they were verbally abused,” Hazelwood said. Pledges were also asked to vandalize buildings and chug Four Lokos (a highly potent alcoholic and caffeinated drink).
“We had no clue what he was going through,” Tracy said.
UK has said in the past that hazing had taken place at the fraternity, but they don’t believe anyone was forced or coerced into drinking the night Lofton died.
Tracy said she doesn’t buy that, asking why someone would have counted all 18 shots of Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon he drank that evening if it wasn’t part of hazing. It’s part of a tradition to give them “liquid courage” for serenading fraternities, as they did that night, Tracy said.
Her son was so intoxicated that he had to be carried to his room, she said.
“They laid him on a bed and took Snapchat pictures of him while they messed with his arms and his body,” Tracy said.
One lawmaker said it was just the second time in her career that she had been brought to tears since joining the legislature.
“I made a promise to him that I would do everything in my power to stop these senseless acts,” Tracy said.
Tracy was there with Senator Robby Morris from Kentucky’s 4th senate district and Representative Jonathan Dixon from the state’s 11th house district. Morris, who is a friend of the Hazelwood family, told us they are helping the family get a law passed that would make hazing a crime in the state, as it has been in other states. Hazing would be a felony if it results in serious physical injury or death.
“We believe if you add the felony component to it then it gets young people’s attention,” Morris said.
Defendants wouldn’t be able to use as a defense either receiving consent for the activities or permission from an organization, he told lawmakers. Hazing could be defined as a fraternity requiring someone to do something that is dangerous, he told LEX 18.
“It may be things you don’t realize are dangerous but should be things the person encouraging them knows is dangerous,” Morris said.
The bill could be on the table in the upcoming legislative session. Some lawmakers on their committee threw their full support behind the plan while others said it would require closer reading and that verbiage may need to be changed.
