Incoming Howard University Law Professor Among Fatalities In DC Plane Crash
Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old civil rights lawyer and former Miss Kansas contestant, was among the 64 people aboard the American Airlines Flight 5342 that crashed into a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Duggins' family confirmed on Thursday that she was among the victims of the tragic incident.
According to NPR affiliate KMUW, the Wichita State Universityalum was on her way back to Washington, D.C., after spending time with her mother, who recently had a surgical procedure.
'We are coming to terms with the grief associated with the loss of our beautiful and accomplished firstborn,' Her father, Maurice Duggins, said in a statement obtained by the outlet. He also urged the public to respect their family's privacy.
Duggins graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Wichita East High School and then later attended Wichita State University as a Clay Barton Scholar. She later received a degree from Harvard Law, where she served as president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. While at Wichita State, she was also a White House intern under the leadership of former first lady Michelle Obama's 'Let Girls Learn' initiative. Duggins was a top 10 finalist in the Miss Kansas pageant in 2014 and 2015, according to a Facebook post from a pageant official.
She worked as an attorney for the Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit focused on addressing injustice in the legal system, where she integrated her study of abolishing the prison industrial complex. Duggins was also set to start teaching at Howard University's law schoolin the fall.
'It is with profound sadness that the Howard University community and the Howard University School of Law have learned of the passing of Professor Kiah Duggins, who was among those lost in the midair plane collision at Reagan National Airport,' Howard University President Ben Vinson III said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
Duggins' law school classmate Anna Bower remembered her as an 'exceptionally talented civil rights lawyer and aspiring legal scholar' in a post on Bluesky. Friend and former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse also remembered Duggins in an emotional Facebook post.
'She was a brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights,' Cruse wrote. 'Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality.'
As of Jan. 30, 28 bodies had been recovered from the Potomac River, which borders the airport. According to The Associated Press, three Army soldiers who were in the helicopter were recovered from the wreckage.
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