clemeson student running

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed by Family of Clemson Student

On September 22nd, 2014, Clemson University student Tucker Hipps died while out on a morning run with members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity he was pledging. Despite an ongoing police investigation led by the Oconee County Sheriff, the circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery to this day. In an attempt to find answers and obtain some measure of justice and accountability for what happened, the family of Tucker Hipps on March 30th filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university, the fraternity, and three individual fraternity members. The lawsuit filed in Pickens County is seeking more than $25 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

According to witnesses, Hipps had fallen behind the group during the run and did not return with them at the end of the run. His body was found later that afternoon in Lake Hartwell underneath the State 93 bridge. The exact cause of death is unknown, although he did suffer head injuries consistent with a “downward headfirst falling injury.”

Questions Surround Possible Hazing Incident as Cause of Death

It appears from some accounts that Hipps had been repeatedly told that he was required to collect money from the other pledges and provide 30 meals from McDonalds for the morning run. When Hipps informed the fraternity brothers that he did not have the money, fraternity brother Thomas King, who is a named defendant in the lawsuit, allegedly became enraged. The lawsuit alleges that in the course of a confrontation that followed, Hipps was somehow sent over the bridge railing, landing in the shallow water below. According to the lawsuit, pledges were often pressured into jumping off the bridge. The family of Tucker Hipps believes the “culture of hazing and inappropriate conduct” that is encouraged at fraternities and allowed to continue by the universities is in part responsible for Hipps’ death.