A Harvard Law School graduate, a North Dighton native, and six individuals affiliated with The Skating Club of Boston, were among the 64 people on the American Airlines Flight 5342 who were killed when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. In total, 67 people were killed (there were three people in the army helicopter, and all of those involved in the crash are presumed dead by authorities).
The Harvard Law School graduate who passed away on the flight was Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old civil rights attorney from the class of 2021. A native of Wichita, Kansas, where the flight originated from, Duggins was heading to Harvard Law School to take part in a Systemic Justice Project conference scheduled for this weekend, according to a statement from Harvard University.
“As a student and lawyer, Kiah was known for her boundless enthusiasm for advancing justice for the most vulnerable, and for building community,” Interim Harvard Law School Dean John Goldberg said in the university’s statement. When she was a student at Harvard, Duggins was the president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, she was as also a member of Harvard Defenders and the Harvard Black Law Students Association, and a 2021 Cravath International Fellow.
(Photo Credit: Harvard Law Today)
Since graduating, Duggins worked with the ACLU of Northern California and the firm Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin. She most recently worked at the Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice, Harvard University said in its statement. This fall, Duggins was going to teach at Howard University.
“My heart is broken for her parents, for all her many, many friends, but also for the world,” said Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Acting Faculty Director Eloise Lawrence. “She had already made a significant impact in her job at Civil Rights Corps, and she was going to take her legal experience and her natural gift as a teacher to Howard University in the fall. I am devastated for all those students who will not get to learn from this remarkable young woman.”
Chris Collins, a 42-year-old North Dighton native was also on American Airlines Flight 5342. According to his LinkedIn page, Collins was vice president and a senior analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. The Taunton Daily Gazette reported that Collins, a graduate of UMass Dartmouth, went on to earn his master’s degree from Brown University before pursuing a career in finance in New York City.
(Photo Credit: LinkedIn)
“Chris was a true adventurer with a passion for the outdoors and a lifelong love of animals. His talent as a financial professional brought him to New York City, where he fell in love with a city girl, his cherished wife Jen,” Collins’ family said in a statement. Later adding, “Chris’ kindness and compassion extended to everyone, whether you were a family member, friend, or one of the many strangers he connected with during his outdoor adventures. He will be in our hearts forever.”
In addition, six people affiliated with The Skating Club of Boston were also on the tragic American Airlines flight. The skaters on the flight were identified as Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, who were traveling with their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han. Also on board were club coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a married pair who won the 1994 world championship title in pairs skating and competed in two Olympic Games.
At a press conference on Thursday, Doug Zeghibe, the executive director of The Skating Club of Boston, informed reporters that the club members were on the flight returning from a development camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
“Skating is a very close and tight knit community,” Zeghibe said. “These kids and their parents, they’re here at our facility in Norwood six, sometimes seven days a week. It’s a close, tight bond. And I think for all of us, we have lost family.”
The Latest on the Air Collision Near Washington
According to the New York Times, the collision between the American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington last Wednesday is the deadliest air disaster in the country in two decades. All 67 individuals on board were killed.
American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines for its parent carrier, American Airlines, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and was nearing Reagan National Airport when the collision occurred in clear skies around 9 p.m. The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ700, was approaching the airport when it collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on a military training flight. The impact resulted in a fireball and smoke, captured by dashcams and a live webcam from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Recovery operations are ongoing, with emergency teams working in dark, cold conditions. As of Friday, 42 “sets of remains” had been recovered. The plane’s fuselage—the main body section of the aircraft—was found inverted and broken into three sections in waist-deep water, officials reported. The debris from the crash was scattered across an area of less than a mile.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation, examining flight data and air traffic communications. Questions have arisen about air traffic control staffing levels and the flight paths of the involved aircraft. A preliminary report by the Federal Aviation Administration, reviewed by the New York Times, indicates that air traffic control was understaffed, with one controller performing duties typically handled by two.
Significant changes have been implemented; the FAA has indefinitely suspended two helicopter routes to Reagan Airport except for essential flights.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
