Where were the adults?!
Two grown men — a Bronx kindergarten teacher and city HR worker, no less — joined in a vicious hazing in the name of their aging college-fraternity chapter, beating a 45-year-old “pledge’’ so badly that he landed in the hospital, authorities said Friday.
Brooklyn Omega Psi Phi honchos Steve Liverpool, 47, and Keston Frank, 34, were charged with assault and hazing in the brutal Dec. 7 beatdown of 45-year-old frat hopeful Tory Gates, officials said.
Liverpool, a public school kindergarten teacher, has been reassigned to a post away from children following his arrest, according to city Department of Education officials.
His Facebook profile misspells “kindergarten” twice; it says “kindergarden.”
Frank works for the city’s Department of Social Services’ human resources administration — although his Facebook page boasts that he also is employed by the Mayor’s Office. He is not, according to the city.
Three other people also were taken into custody and accused of taking part in the twisted fraternity “welcoming ritual” — which involved Gates, a “pledge,” or proposed member of the organization’s Brooklyn-based Alpha Upsilon Chapter, getting punched and then hit hundreds of times with a paddle.
“The defendants, acting in concert with each other and other unapprehended individuals, did strike [the victim] about the body, chest and back with defendants’ hands during an initiation ceremony,” authorities charged in the complaint.
“Further … the defendants, acting in concert with each other, did strike the informant about the buttocks and testicles with a fraternity paddle between 150-200 times.”
Gates, who lives in Brooklyn, had to be treated at Mount Sinai Hospital for “swelling, substantial pain and bruising” about his “buttocks, testicles, chest and back” after the incident, the complaint said.
Cops said Gates also later suffered from rhabdomyolysis — basically a breakdown of muscle tissue — and the loss of the ability to urinate because of the attack.
Liverpool — whose Facebook page includes numerous photos showing his love for the fraternity — was spotted outside his house Friday after being released on his own recognizance.
He refused to comment beyond telling a reporter, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
No one was home at an address listed for Frank, and the only phone number associated with him was disconnected.
A Department of Social Services rep told The Post, “Our employees must be held to the highest standard, and we take allegations of misconduct very seriously. Appropriate action will be taken pending the outcome of the criminal matter.”
Gates could not be reached.
Chris O’Neal, the lawyer with Omega’s office of the Grand Council, told The Post in a statement: “While the external police-led investigation continues, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. continues to cooperate with the authorities.
“If true, this situation is outrageous, uncalled for and inconsistent with the founding principles and purpose of our beloved fraternity. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. does not condone hazing or brutality in membership selection.”
Gates is the latest in a long line of pledges and Omega members to accuse the organization of improper hazing techniques.
Alumni have come forward over the years to detail alleged horrors that go on inside Omega, which was founded in 1911 at Howard University in Washington, DC, a historically black college.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen and Shari Logan