Evanston police arrested former McCormick student Alexander Krzyston Dec. 16 in connection with the death of another Northwestern student, Matthew Sunshine.
Sunshine, a SESP freshman, died of alcohol poisoning in June after attending a party in Foster House.
According to police, Krzyston provided the alchool for a drinking game that Sunshine participated in, eventually attaining a blood-alcohol level of 0.396. Friends then escorted Sunshine back to his room, checking on him throughout the night. He was found unresponsive the next morning, police said.
Krzyston, a 22-year-old from Burr Ridge, Ill., is not currently enrolled at NU and has not been since Spring Quarter 2008, said Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations.
Police charged the former engineering student with one count of unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor, traditionally a misdemeanor under Illinois law, Guenther said. But because Sunshine’s consumption led to his death, the charge automatically becomes a felony.
“We think it’s a very tragic situation all the way around,” Guenther said.
However, the charges facing Krzyston could extend well beyond providing alcohol and could even include manslaughter, said Mark Brown, a personal injury lawyer in Chicago.
“There are a range of charges that are available after the delivery charges,” said the partner at the personal injury law firm Lane & Lane LLC. “It just depends how culpable the police think he is, and that’s ultimately up to the state’s attorney.”
Police have not announced any other charges, but the investigation is still ongoing, said Sunshine’s father, Jeffrey Sunshine, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
“I’m not sure where they are in the investigation right now,” Guenther said. “This charge is all we have right now, but that would not preclude anything from happening in the future.”
Krzyston could also face a civil suit from Sunshine’s parents, Brown said. Under Tort law, Krzyston could potentially be charged with negligence, failure to act as a reasonable person would act in that situation; or with willful and wanton behavior, acting in utter indifference to the safety of others, Brown said.
“We have these laws to protect people who we believe aren’t at a certain level of maturity to make these decision for themselves,” he said.
Jeffrey Sunshine declined to comment on the potential for any civil suit or on the arrest, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
“There were a bunch of kids in the room,” he said. “I’m not sure who did what.”
Future defendants in any filed suit could very well include NU, Brown said.
Typically, negligence claims are not made against college-age students because they often don’t have enough assets for a settlement, he said. Such cases would look at other parties involved. A judge could find NU culpable if it’s determined the school’s alcohol policies were insufficient or not enforced, Brown said.
Cubbage declined to comment on the situation beyond a prepared statement.
“Northwestern University policies prohibit the provision of alcohol to underage students in the university’s residence halls by students who are of legal age,” Cubbage said in the statement. “The university takes violations of its policies seriously and has established disciplinary procedures to pursue action against any student found to have violated university policies.”
A 2008 Associated Press analysis of news articles on alcohol-poisoning deaths in the past decade found that charges were filed about 40 percent of the time when the outcome of a criminal investigation was known. The study found that jail time was rare and that plea bargains were often reached. In most cases, penalties included fines, probation or community service.
Krzyston was freed on $25,000 bond and faces court Jan. 14 in Skokie.
