Family of Ugandan Women’s Rights Activist Awarded $10.5M After Being Decapitated By Swinging Gate

Family members of a Ugandan human rights activist will be awarded more than $10 million from the United States for an accident at Arches National Park.

According to the Associated Press, Esther Nakajjigo and her husband, Ludovic Michaud, were on vacation at Utah’s Arches National Park. While leaving the park, strong winds sliced through the passenger side door of the recently married couple’s car. The fiasco left Nakajjigo, a well-known Ugandan women’s rights activist, dead while her husband helplessly sat in the driver’s seat.

“By his verdict, Judge Bruce Jenkins has shown the world how the American justice system works to hold its own government accountable and greatly values all lives, including that of Esther Nakajjigo, a remarkable young woman from Uganda,” Randi McGinn, the family’s attorney said in a statement.

AP reported that the $10 million awarded was less than the family initially pursued. However, Nakajjigo’s family members and attorneys representing the family were not upset. McGinn added that it was the largest federal wrongful death verdict in Utah history.

In similar news, a white police officer who fatally shot a Black driver during a struggle inside a car in 2017 must pay that family $4.4 million.

An Ohio jury found that police officer Matthew Rhodes acted recklessly when he climbed into Luke Stewart’s car and shot him. The shooting inflamed racial tensions in Euclid, a Cleveland suburb, and a grand jury declined to indict Rhodes after hearing evidence from prosecutors. The jury’s finding stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Stewart’s mother.