Father blames UCLA fraternity for son’s death?

The father of an 18-year-old man who died at a UCLA frat house has accused the fraternity and his son’s friends of negligence, saying they essentially left his son to die after a night of heavy partying.

Glen Berlin Parrish was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon after consuming alcohol and possibly prescription medications, authorities said.

“They found my son hunched over, in the back, and no one had the … decency to call the paramedics,” his father, Glen Parrish Sr., told The Times. “They just put him in a bed to die.”

Authorities are investigating Parrish’s death and looking into who may have provided alcohol or drugs.

The father said he blamed the Theta Chi fraternity and his son’s friends for failing to alert paramedics when his son appeared to be incoherent. He also blamed them for carrying his son to a mattress and then leaving him unattended for nearly 10 hours.

“The negligence of the fraternity to not at least have someone walking around checking on people at night is beyond me,” he said.

Theta Chi’s executive director, Michael Mayer, said that pending results of the investigation, the fraternity can neither confirm nor deny the presence of drugs and alcohol at the UCLA chapter house Friday night.

A statement released Monday said the fraternity was “very saddened to learn of the death of Glen Parrish Jr.” and sent its condolences to the family.

Parrish was not a UCLA student or a member of the fraternity.

Police responded to a call from the 600 block of Gayley Avenue, near the UCLA campus entrance, about 2 p.m. Saturday and Parrish was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities determined there was no foul play in his death, said Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Toxicology results could take up to eight weeks to complete, he said.

Investigators said that friends helped Parrish to a bedroom, and when they checked on him the following afternoon, he was nonresponsive.

Parrish’s father said his son “was really looking forward to” the Friday night party at the fraternity house.

By early Saturday morning, the father said, eyewitnesses told him that his son was “not moving” on the back of a basketball court and had to be carried to a mattress by a friend. He was last thought to be alive about 4 a.m., Parrish’s father said.

UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said Monday that the school was cooperating with the Los Angeles Police Department’s investigation and made counselors available over the weekend.

Parrish had moved to Manhattan Beach from Arizona about a year ago and was excited about going to community college in January, his father said.

He was “a funny, outgoing, wonderful, amazing kid,” his father said.

matt.stevens@latimes.com