Crimson Red Sports

Before Champion participated in the hazing ritual, which requires a member to walk from the front to the back of the bus while getting hit and beat by "about two dozen" band members Wills said he asked Champion if he wanted to do it.

Wills said Champion told him "I want to get it over with. I just want to do it."

"They were hitting him hard: haymakers, kidney shots," Wills said. "They had percussion sticks, I saw belts. He's just sitting there like a sitting duck. He was like 'I can't breathe, can't breathe. Need air, need air.' And then he started complaining. He said 'I can't see; can't see.'

"He [Champion] said he couldn't see. His eyes were wide open. He was looking at us. He said he couldn't see. He started jerking in and out. He was like [panting], you know trying to gasp for air. He started saying 'Oh, Lord, Jesus, please help me. Please help me.' Those were probably the last words he said. He started panicking again and he just kind of passed out."

Champion had bruises on his chest, arms, shoulder and back and died Nov. 19, 2011 from internal bleeding, specifically "hemorrhagic shock due to soft tissue hemorrhage, due to blunt force trauma," the Orange County, Fla., medical examiner reported. Champion was 26. Witnesses told emergency dispatchers the drum major was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard the bus.