LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) --
The family of a young woman who died in
an alleged hazing incident filed a $100 million wrongful death
lawsuit against the nation's oldest African-American sorority
Monday.
Kristin High, 22, and Kenitha Saafir, 24, drowned September 9 at
Dockweiler State Beach near Playa del Rey. The women were both
students at California State University, Los Angeles, and were
pledging the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority. High was the mother
of a 2-year-old and was engaged to be married.
Several members of the sorority were with them that night, along
with two other pledges, according to the lawsuit by the High family.
A preliminary investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department
determined the two deaths "appear(ed) to be accidental" and
unrelated to the young women's efforts to join the sorority. Police
are still investigating.
High's family says a private investigation tells a different
story.
Saafir and High were "blindfolded and tied by their hands and
their bodies and led into the rip tide conditions of the ocean," the
family's lawsuit says. "That night, the waves were cresting at 6 to
8 feet and creating a strong under-current resulting from rip-tide."
The lawsuit claims the two women were forced to do this after
days of losing sleep as they did difficult and embarrassing chores
for sorority members.
And before they entered the water on the last night of their
lives, "they were told to engage in a tiring set of rigorous
calisthenics on the sucking sand of the beach," the lawsuit says.
The two women were wearing jogging clothes and tennis shoes when
they went into the water, which would have made it more difficult
for them to get out.
The lawsuit, which calls AKA's policy against hazing "a sham,"
names the Alpha Kappa Alpha corporation, the regional chapter, and
the individuals from the sorority who were present that night.
CNN was not immediately able to get a response from the sorority.
At a news conference Monday, attorneys for High's family accused
the local chapter of AKA of engaging in "a coverup."
They also said no one from the sorority has contacted the women's
families.
High's mother, Patricia Strong-Fargas, asked the sorority to
"stop these savage acts of passion in the name of sisterhood."
Holman Arthurs, High's fiancé and father of her son, said, "My
contention is the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is responsible for the
deaths of Kristin High and Kenitha Saafir as if they pulled a loaded
gun, pointed it at point blank range and shot these two women."
