Classmates remember college student hit by car, killed near NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The classmates of a business school student killed during the weekend remembered him as bright, motivated, and full of life.

Raleigh Police said 23-year-old Pierre-Louis de Morgues died early Sunday morning when he was hit by a car while riding on his e-scooter near NC State's campus.

De Morgues, who friends say they affectionately called Pilou, was studying at the Skema Business School's campus in Raleigh -- an international business school that has a partnership with NC State.

"Fantastic guy. I can't express how much I'm going to miss him," said classmate and friend Nils Hochart.

Hochart met de Morgues, who was from France, as part of their studies through Skema in Brazil. That blossomed into a close friendship that helped bring the two to Raleigh, where Skema collaborates with NC State. Hochart was one of the first to learn that de Morgues had been killed while riding his scooter on Gorman Street just before 4 a.m. Sunday.

"I think one of the hardest parts was, you know, announcing it to the rest of the friend group," he said. "Little by little, when and going through that situation and that experience with them, for them learning for the first time, I think that was really terrible to live. And it still is."

According to Raleigh Police, de Morgues was riding his scooter southwest on Gorman Street at 3:41 a.m. Sunday when a car hit him from behind and dragged him down the road. Police said de Morgues died at the scene.

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Just three minutes later, RPD said, 27-year-old driver Jonathan Perry was on Gorman Street, turning right the wrong way onto I-40 eastbound when he collided head-on with 37-year-old Alaina Mathews of Hope Mills, killing them both. Investigators say an open container of alcohol was found at Perry's feet.

ABC11 asked RPD whether the two fatal crashes were connected, but police said the investigation is still ongoing.

In the meantime, Hochart said he was thinking about the aspirations his friend had: to find work in the United States and to one day build his own company.

"All of us thought that he could do it. He would do it. He, he wanted it. He was motivated. He, he had that energy. Yeah, I guess we're going to have to all accomplish his goal for him," he said.