The mother of a former clarinet player in the Florida A&M Marching 100 has accused an unknown number of band members of hazing her daughter. Doretha Smith says she originally did not report the alleged abuse for fear of reprisal, but did withdraw her daughter from the university.

(Doretha) Smith’s daughter –- who asked not to be named in this story for fear of reprisals — was repeatedly beaten three years ago as a freshman member of FAMU’s famed Marching 100, Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She said the freshman clarinet player was slapped and punched in the stomach and chest, beatings she only admitted to her mother after calling in tears and asking to withdraw from the university.

Smith said she was especially disturbed when her daughter told her that one of those who hit her was a student who had played with her in the Southwest DeKalb High School band: Sean Hobson.  Earlier this month, Tallahassee police charged Hobson, 23, with battery after another FAMU clarinet player and Southwest DeKalb graduate, Bria Shante Hunter, was hospitalized with injuries she said were inflicted during hazing.

Community Hazing