Former Miss Kansas contestant, aspiring Howard law professor among DC plane crash victims

A former Miss Kansas contestant and attorney Kiah Duggins has been named as one of the victims of the flight that crashed into the Potomac River after colliding with a Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night.

Duggins was flying into Washington, DC, from Wichita as she was “preparing to be a law professor at Howard University in the fall,” her former pageant director, Larry Strong, said in a Facebook post.

“It is with heavy heart that the Miss Augusta and Miss Butler County organization just learned that Kiah Duggins Miss Butler County 2014 [and] 2015 was a passenger in the plane that crashed last evening in Washington DC,” he wrote.

“Keep the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.”

A former Miss Kansas contestant and attorney Kiah Duggins was identified as one of the victims of the deadly American Airlines flight that crashed in Washington, DC, Wednesday. Facebook/Larry E Strong

Duggins was flying into DC as she was “preparing to be a law professor at Howard University in the fall,” her former pageant director, Larry Strong, wrote on Facebook. Facebook/Larry E Strong

“Kiah was a top 10 finalist in 2014 and 2015 at the Miss Kansas Pageant.” Facebook/Larry E Strong

“Kiah was [a] top 10 finalist in 2014 and 2015 at the Miss Kansas Pageant.”

Duggins was a civil rights attorney with the non-profit Civil Rights Corps who “litigate[d] on behalf of movements challenging unconstitutional policing and money bail practices in Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, D.C.,” according to her profile on the organization’s website.

She earned her law degree from Harvard University, “where she served as the president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau,” multiple bachelor’s degrees from Wichita State University and “completed a Fulbright grant in Taiwan” before her work in the nation’s capital.

In a Facebook post, former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse described Duggins as “a brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights.”

“Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality,” she wrote. “May her work, her message, and her spirit continue to inspire and create change. Gone too soon but never forgotten.”

American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. Wednesday — in what’s now considered the deadliest airline crash on US soil in more than two decades.

There were no survivors of the deadly crash, which claimed 67 lives.

Those who boarded the 64-person flight, which plunged into the frigid Potomac River, also included at least 14 members of the US Figure Skating Team, officials said.

At least 40 bodies have been removed from the river as recovery operations concluded in the nation’s capital late Thursday afternoon, CNN reported, citing sources.

The bodies of the three soldiers who were on the Army helicopter have all been recovered.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the horrific collision.

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