- Police found 56 blindfolded, shirtless pledges in a dark basement at Iowa fraternity
- Officers issued multiple commands to clear the room but pledges remained silent and still
- Fraternity president said pledges were undergoing a "lead up to initiation" ceremony
Fresh details about a hazing incident that took place at the University of Iowa in November 2024 have emerged, courtesy of police body camera footage. The video, uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, shows dozens of shirtless, blindfolded fraternity hopefuls standing silently in a dark basement.
It shows police officers and firefighters responding to a fire alarm at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity house, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
When officers descended into the basement, they encountered 56 hopefuls standing in a dark room. Many were barefoot, shirtless and blindfolded, with food splattered across their bodies.
“Looks like we have quite a bit of hazing,” one officer can be heard saying to a man wearing a baseball cap who did not appear to be participating in the ritual.
The footage showed officers repeatedly attempting to take control of the situation. “Does anyone want to be forced to tell me what's going on? Hey, this stops here, guys. This is the police department. This stops here,” one officer said. “Who's in charge? … How about we stop? We start cleaning this up. Everyone, take their blindfold off.”
Despite “multiple commands” to clear the room, officers said no one moved.
“I've already given multiple commands to clear the room and get out of here, but no one's moving,” an officer said as the camera panned across the silent group. “What the f**k did I just walk into?”
Officers repeatedly asked for someone “in charge” or for the “house dad,” but members appeared unable or unwilling to provide information.
“You're not being very helpful,” one responding officer told the students. “Nobody in here has any way to contact the guy that's in charge of this house?”
Another officer warned, “This is all going to report… we're only making the situation worse.”
At one point, a man standing in the basement doorway, drinking a beer, identified himself as “Jose.” As he handed over identification, he told officers, “I think it's fake.” He was later identified as 21-year-old Joseph Gaya.
When asked what was happening, Gaya told officers the fraternity was holding a “celebration of life.” During the interaction, he wiped a red substance from a pledge's neck while officers were checking whether anyone was injured and, according to the video, asked an officer if he wanted to “taste it.”
A man identifying himself as the fraternity's president told police that the pledges were completing the “lead up to initiation.”
Gaya was arrested the following day and charged with interference with official acts, according to court records obtained by The NY Post.
A spokesperson for the University of Iowa previously told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that Gaya was not a University of Iowa student at the time of the incident.
Court records show the charge was later dropped after the state moved to dismiss the case.
The University of Iowa launched its own investigation into the November 2024 incident. The fraternity was ultimately suspended for four years, through 2029.
