STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Six University of Connecticut students were charged Friday with alcohol-related offenses connected to the death of a student who was run over by a fire department vehicle after leaving a party last fall.
The students had been hosting an off-campus party at a fraternity-affiliated house Oct. 16 during homecoming weekend. One of the attendees was Jeffny Pally, a 19-year-old sophomore from West Hartford.
Police say Pally had been sitting with her back against a garage door of the UConn Public Safety Complex at around 1 a.m. when she was run over by a fire vehicle responding to a call that turned out to be a false alarm. Two other students have been charged in connection with the false alarm.
Pally’s body wasn’t found until about 30 minutes later when firefighters returned. She died from injuries to her head and torso, the medical examiner’s office determined. The driver of the vehicle hasn’t been charged, and the death was ruled an accident.
The charged students are Patrick Callahan, Matthew Moll, Dylan Morose, Austin Custodio, Dominic Godi and Jonathan Polansky, who range in age from 21 to 22 and are from Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. Some were charged with permitting a minor to illegally possess alcohol.
They were all released pending their arraignment in Superior Court in Rockville on March 8. It couldn’t be immediately determined if they had lawyers.
A university spokeswoman confirmed the students are still enrolled at UConn but said federal student privacy law prevents the university from saying whether any of them face discipline by the school.
The university noted the Kappa Sigma fraternity recently lost its recognition and housing due to off-campus incidents in September and October unrelated to Pally’s death. The fraternity’s national office also has revoked the local group’s charter.
“Jeffny Pally was a talented, ambitious, promising young woman and her death was a terrible tragedy,” the university said. “The entire university community joins her family and friends in continuing to mourn her loss.”
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