The family of slain student Michael Scrocca said they have dropped lawsuits brought against the College Park Fire Department and a national fraternity, closing the final chapter of a case they said could never have brought them closure.
It has been nearly two-and-a-half years since Scrocca, a 22-year-old finance major, died in a fire set by an angry, alcohol-fueled student arsonist just weeks before Scrocca was to graduate. The student pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 37-and-a-half years in prison, but the two civil suits probing other factors that allegedly contributed to Scrocca’s death remained.
Mary Scrocca, Michael Scrocca’s mother, said that she and Scrocca’s father, Tony, had decided to file both suites at their attorney’s advice before the statute of limitations ran out.
“When something like this happens you become so emotionally involved that you listen to your attorneys,” Mary Scrocca said. “You file lawsuits when you have an open window of time and make more intelligent decisions later.”
One of the suits, filed in federal court in March, charged the Delta Tau Delta fraternity for promoting underage drinking at a party there that night. The second suit, filed in Upper Marlboro last year, claimed the College Park Volunteer Fire Department did not react promptly enough at the scene of the blaze.
After Michael’s murderer, former cell biology major Daniel Murray, was sentenced in April, the Scrocca family began to rethink whether they wanted to continue with the suits, Mary Scrocca said. She and her husband said they now believe neither the fire department nor the fraternity should be held responsible for Michael’s death. She added that her son never would have wanted to cause his fraternity trouble.
“We don’t hold the fraternity responsible,” she said. “Michael is a part of the Greek system. He loved it. It’s not what he would have wanted; it’s not what we want.”
Representatives from Delta Tau Delta’s national chapter did not return several calls for comment.
Alcohol reigned at the fraternity’s satellite house, where Scrocca lived, the night he died, according to court documents. The party swelled onto the front porch, from which Murray said he was teased as he passed the house.
When Murray returned at dawn, documents show he doused the house in gasoline, lit a broomstick and threw it onto the porch. By the time firefighters arrived, flames gushed from the house’s windows and spread to cars parked on the front lawn.
The Scrocca family had always insisted that both cases were about building awareness to save other students, especially because African American studies major David Ellis died in a similar fire less than a year after Scrocca.
College Park Volunteer Fire Department Chief Fred Welsh said both fires linger in his memory every time he gets a call near campus and that both reinforced old lessons he already learned after years on the force – never trust a witness’ report and always try to prioritize rescue efforts. But he maintained he had no regrets from that night, and he said the suit did little to promote vigilance, as the family had claimed before dropping the suit.
“We are as deeply saddened today as we were two years ago about the loss of Michael Scrocca, but I guess I didn’t ever understand why the best action the family could have taken was to bring a lawsuit,” he said.
With it now buried in courthouse archives, Mary said the family could try to move on – for now.
Murray will face parole in 15 years, and the Scroccas said they plan to attend every hearing.
Reporter Mariana Minaya contributed to this story. slivnickdbk@gmail.com
