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HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WLBT) - A former student at the University of Southern Mississippi has filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that a hazing incident at the university left him with injuries so severe that he was unable to walk.

Rafeal Joseph claims in the lawsuit that the abuse began in December of 2022, when the student pledged with USM’s Nu Eta chapter of Omega Psi Phi.

He claims members of the fraternity subjected Joseph and other pledges to “severe abuse.” This included, he claims, intimidation and threats, sleep deprivation, and the beating of pledges with a plank of wood.

The suit says the abuse culminated with the fraternity’s “Hell Night” ritual on April 17, 2023, when Joseph was beaten so severely that he spent eleven days in the hospital and had to

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