One Northwestern University student has been charged with supplying the alcohol that led to another’s death last spring.
Alexander J. Krzyston, 22, of Burr Ridge, was taken into custody at Evanston Police Headquarters Wednesday and charged with felony unlawful delivery of alcohol to a minor. He’s been released on $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in district court in Skokie on Jan. 14.
Evanston Police Commander Tom Guenther says Krzyston provided the liquor used in an alcohol drinking game in the campus dormitory at 2253 Sheridan Road where he lived last June 9.
About noon the next day police and paramedics were called to the dorm where they found freshman Matthew Sunshine of Cold Spring Harbor, NY, dead in his room.
The Cook County Medical Examiners office determined Sunshine died of excessive alcohol intoxication. The medical examiner said he had a blood alcohol level of .396, nearly five times the legal limit for adult drivers in Illinois.
Police say interviews with other students revealed that Sunshine had participated in the alcohol drinking game and was eventually escorted back to his room because of his intoxicated state.
Students said they checked on his condition several times and during one of these checks discovered he was unresponsive and called police.
University officials said Krzyston, an engineering student, has not been enrolled in the school since last spring. Citing federal student privacy laws, they declined to say whether he’s been the subject of any university disciplinary action as a result of the incident.
But in a statement, university spokesman Alan Cubbage said the school prohibits the provision of alcohol to underage students in residence halls by students who are of legal age.
He added that the school and has established disciplinary procedures to pursue action against any student found to have violated university policies.