Viral body cam footage shows shirtless, alcohol-covered pledges

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Police body camera footage released following a viral YouTube video shows the scene officers encountered during a 2024 hazing incident at the University of Iowa’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

The footage shows crowds of shirtless men in the fraternity’s basement, some covered in ketchup and alcohol and some blindfolded, when police and firefighters responded to a fire alarm in November 2024.

“You gotta see it from my perspective, what the f— did I just walk into?” an officer said in the footage.

Officers found 56 pledges in two dark rooms during the incident.

“Looks like we have quite a bit of hazing,” an officer said.

The body camera footage shows officers trying to determine what was happening and asking if anyone needed medical attention or was there against their will. Pledges responded in unison that no one was there against their will.

Officers searched throughout the fraternity house asking to speak to someone in charge, but no one pointed them in the right direction.

During the incident, one person shouted slurs at officers and repeatedly interrupted conversations between police and pledges.

“You got f—— nothing, there’s no fire here, no nothing,” the person said.

Officers arrested that individual and prosecutors charged him with interference with official acts, but his charges were later dropped.

The University of Iowa suspended Alpha Delta Phi until summer 2029 following the hazing incident. Three fraternities are currently under suspension at the university.

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