Two charged in frat ouster

Charges of second-degree assault filed May 15 in superior court relate to a Feb. 22 Pullman Police investigation of a fight at the SAE fraternity house on NE B Street on College Hill in Pullman. Charged with second-degree assault were Markus Chanthao, 21, and Samuel L. Burke, 21.

The arrest report by Officer Holden Humphrey said he and four other Pullman officers responded to a report of a fight at the fraternity at 10:53 p.m. The report said the alleged victim, Connor McCabe, had been assaulted by three people who removed him from the fraternity.

McCabe said he had been invited into the fraternity and was visiting with friends who were SAE members on the third floor when he was attacked by three males and forcibly removed from the house.

The police report said McCabe appeared to have an injured lip and two teeth which had been knocked loose. It said later at the hospital officers learned that McCabe had sustained a fractured jaw. Surveillance videos were obtained which showed the fight as McCabe was taken down the stairs and out of the fraternity. One of the tapes shows McCabe getting hit in the jaw outside of the fraternity. The person making the hit was not on the video, but the report alleged Chanthao admitted he was the one to throw the punch.The report said Chanthao told officers he did not know why they were removing the alleged victim from the fraternity. He said he later asked Burke, and Burke told him he didn’t remember because he was too intoxicated at the time.

The two defendants have been summoned to appear in court May 31 to make a first appearance.