CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A student manager for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers basketball team died in a car accident Thursday night in northern Virginia.
ABC-affiliate 13 News Now reported the crash happened on the northbound side of Route 13 at Daugherty Road in Tasley.
Austin C. Rainey, 19, was on a trip to Washington, D.C. with friends when the crash happened, Charlotte Basketball tweeted Friday.
We have lost a beloved part of our #49ersMBB family, Austin Rainey. Plz keep his family in your thoughts & prayers. pic.twitter.com/7N7MEmrYwi
— Charlotte Men’s Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) February 20, 2016
A 2006 Ford F-150 drove into the path of the 2000 Chevrolet van that Rainey was riding in. When the people inside the van were getting out of the van, it was hit by a Freightliner tractor-trailer, 13 News Now reported.
Rainey died at the scene. Four other people in the van were able to get out. The driver of the Ford F-150, 63-year-old Linda D. Stevens, was charged with failure to yield right-of-way.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rainey family during this difficult time,” Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball coach Mark Price said in a statement of the team’s Twitter. “Austin was a beloved member of the 49ers basketball family. His uplifting presence will be greatly missed.”
The funeral for Rainey will be 11:30 a.m. Friday in Chapel Hill.
Cox Media Group
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