WSU pledge's death results in 15 charged

Pullman police reports are 177 pages

Bill Stevenson, Whitman County Gazette | Jun 10, 20210

Pullman police count

The "chapter" room in the basement of the Al[pha Tau Omega fraternity is where Sam Martinez died.

COLFAX - Fifteen people are charged with furnishing liquor to minors after a Washington State University (WSU) student died of alcohol poisoning in 2019.

Samuel H. Martinez, 19, of Bellevue, was a pledge to the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega on Linden Street in Pullman. He died on Nov. 12, 2019, during a fraternity event. The Whitman County coroner ruled his death as accidental acute alcohol poisoning.

Martinez was last seen to be alive at 2 a.m. on Nov. 11 while sleeping on his side in the "chapter" room, a basement of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity house, according to Pullman police invest...