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University police charged James Bowes Higgins with aggravated assault on November 17

A University of Mississippi student was charged with aggressive assault after allegedly spraying cleaning products, potentially bleach, into the mouth of a fraternity pledge during a hazing ritual and damaging his esophagus. 

University police charged James Bowes Higgins with aggravated assault on November 17.

Adam Peavy, a lawyer for the injured student, said his client suffered serious internal injuries and may need surgery after a cleaning product, possibly bleach, was sprayed into the 20-year-old's mouth. 

The hazing allegedly took place last October where pledges were supposed to receive fraternity pins at the Pi Kappa Alpha house in Oxford.

A student who witnessed the incident told a university police officer that pledges were blindfolded with their neckties and made to sit in a hallway. Active members then 'yelled, screamed, threw liquids and things' on the pledges, and made them squat against the wall while reciting phrases, a police report states.   

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According to the police report, Higgins, a fraternity member, 'grabbed a bottle of bleach or surface cleaner and started spraying it on a few pledges.'

The report says that some of the pledges began vomiting from inhaling the cleaning product, and one pledge had to go to the hospital when bleach got into his eyes.  

According to his attorney, the 20 year-old was sprayed in the mouth and suffered burns to his throat during the hazing. 

Peavy said at one point someone asked his client if he wanted water but instead sprayed cleaner into his mouth, with the student swallowing 'two or three gulps.' 

The student immediately began vomiting and went to the hospital the next day when vomiting continued.

Since the incident, his attorney says the 20-year-old  has gotten 'progressively worse,' and still can not eat most solid foods. 

He says the student has dropped 50 pounds since the incident and may have to remove a section of his esophagus and relocate his stomach. 

Peavy says as a result of his injuries, the 20-year-old is now at higher risk for cancer and other medical problems.  

The alleged victim's mother told WMC 5 Action News 'he has a lifelong battle on his hands'  

The hazing allegedly took place last October where pledges were supposed to receive fraternity pins at the Pi Kappa Alpha house in Oxford

The victim, who has not been named, is still enrolled at Ole Miss and currently a member of the fraternity.

His attorney said legal action is being prepared to hold anyone involved in the hazing incident accountable. 

According to The Mississippian, Peavy has not determined who will be named as defendants in the lawsuit, but possible defendants include the university chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, the national organization and the student who allegedly sprayed the bleach in Jackson's mouth.

'No parents send their kid to college thinking they're going to get blindfolded and poisoned … It's unconscionable,' Peavy told the Mississippian. 

'I am outraged by this incident, and we extend our heartfelt support and deepest sympathy to the victim,' said Charlotte Fant Pegues, Ole Miss´ interim vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a statement, adding that hazing will not be tolerated.

Ole Miss officials said they suspended a student in the case, although they didn't name Higgins. The fraternity's international office said the person accused of the assault was expelled from Pi Kappa Alpha.  

A grand jury has yet to decide whether to indict Higgins. The next Lafayette County grand jury meeting is scheduled for June. Mickey Mallette, an assistant district attorney in Lafayette County, declined to comment.

The fraternity has been in the spotlight in Ohio after a pledge died in March at Bowling Green State University. School officials said members gave pledges alcohol at an off-campus event on March 4 and encouraged each to finish an entire bottle. Stone Foltz, 21, was found unconscious and died three days later. 

The university placed the chapter under interim suspension. Bowling Green State has said it is also investigating individual students and that law enforcement agencies could consider criminal charges.

Ole Miss fraternities have been closed in the past after hazing problems. Sigma Alpha Epsilon indefinitely shut down its Ole Miss chapter in 2017. Ole Miss in 2018 shut down a chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha for three years.

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