UNC Charlotte student dies after falling from a party bus

A 20-year-old UNC Charlotte student was killed Tuesday night after she fell from a party bus and was hit by multiple vehicles, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.

The student, identified as Polly Rogers, was in the party bus traveling from the UNC Charlotte campus to a bar uptown, according to police.

The bus was in the 4500 block of North Tryon Street when Rogers fell from an emergency window and landed in the center lane of the road, police said.

That's when Rogers was hit by two other vehicles, according to officials.

She was pronounced dead at the scene by Medic.

Police don't know if Rogers had been drinking before the crash, but said other people on the bus had been.

There were about 55 people on the bus when the trip started an UNCC, Victor Rabb, the owner of the bus company Charlotte Party Charter, told the Observer's news partner WBTV.

He thinks someone may have pulled the emergency exit on the bus' window, which cased her to fall out the window, the TV station reports.

This is the first time an incident like this has happened in the 13 years the party bus has operated, he said.

Rogers was a sophomore at UNC Charlotte, and studied special education, a school official said. She was also a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.

Rogers was remembered as being an emerging leader in her chapter, the sorority said in a statement.

“Polly was the friendliest person you would ever meet in your life. She could always be found in the common areas of the house greeting sisters after their day at classes and making sure their day was going great,” chapter president Alexis Marie Burns said in the statement.

A GoFundMe was created Wednesday morning to help raise money for funeral expenses.

Observer reporter Jane Wester contributed.

This story was originally published May 2, 2018 at 7:44 AM with the headline "UNC Charlotte student dies after falling from a party bus."