The owner of the party bus that a UNCC student fell out of last week and died when she was struck by two cars is facing over $2,000 in fines after being assessed with multiple vehicle violations, according to areport released by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol Wednesday.
Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Pierce said the owner of Charlotte Party Charters Victor Rabb faces fines due to clerical and mechanical violations, including unmarked or inadequately marked emergency exits.
“Under federal guidelines, you’re supposed to mark emergency exits with a sticker. [Rabb] was missing that,” Pierce said. “That’s all.”
Pierce said most of the fines Rabb faces are for “paper violations,” such as no vehicle registration, no proof of regular vehicle inspections and fictitious tags.
Polly Rogers, 20, fell out of one of the bus’s emergency windows and was killed when she was struck by two cars on North Tryon Street last week. She was heading to uptown from UNCC’s campus with a group of friends when the traffic fatality occurred. Rogers was pronounced dead at the scene.
The emergency window Rogers fell out of is still in question. The report did not make clear if the window was faulty and how it had opened. Pierce said the investigation of the window is under CMPD authority. Police said the investigation of the vehicle is ongoing and would not comment on the emergency window at this time.
According to Rabb, the window had been opened by passengers. A father of another passenger who was on the bus toldWSOC that there was a problem with the window and it wasn't opened by passengers on the bus.
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