Trial begins over death of Ugandan woman killed in Utah park
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ludovic Michaud was driving around the scenic red rock landscapes of Utah's Arches National Park on a windy spring day in 2020 when something unthinkable happened: A metal gate whipped around, sliced through the passenger door of his car and decapitated his new 25-year-old wife, Esther Nakajjigo.
The tragic accident is now the subject of a wrongful death lawsuit Michaud and Nakajjigo's family are pursuing, in which they argue that the U.S. Park Service was negligent and did not maintain the gates at the entrances and exits to the parks, leading to Nakajjigo's death.
In opening statements Monday in Salt Lake City, attorneys representing Michaud and Nakajjigo's family said they were seeking $140 million in damages from the government.
Their lawsuit claims when the national parks reopened in April 2020 after being shuttered due to COVID-19, rangers at the national park in Utah didn't secure the gate in place, which in effect “turned a metal pipe into a spear that went straight through the side of a car, decapitating and killing Esther Nakajjigo.”
Attorney Randi McGinn, representing Nakajjigo's family, on Monday described the death in gruesome detail. After requesting that the family leave the courtroom, she recounted the moment Michaud realized his wife had been killed, when he inhaled the copper-tinged smell of blood, turned to figure out what it was and saw she was dead.
Opening statements previewed how the trial will hinge less on varying accounts of the accident since the government isn't contesting the family's version of events. The trial will likely center on disagreement between the government and Nakajjigo’s family over her earning potential, which is used to calculate a portion of the damages. McGinn said if her life hadn't been cut short that Nakajjigo could have gone on to become a...