SALT LAKE CITY — A civil trial began Monday over the 2020 death of a woman killed in Arches National Park.
Esther Nakajjigo was a singer and humanitarian in her home country of Uganda. She died June 13, 2020, after a gust of wind blew the park's gate into the path of traffic. The gate’s arm pierced the rental car Nakajjigo was riding in, decapitating her.
The U.S. Government has acknowledged that park service employees should have secured the gate.
In the five-day trial at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, a judge will determine damages that must be paid to Nakajjigo’s family, including her husband Ludo Michaud, who was driving the car that day and witnessed the traumatic accident.
The family will ask the judge for $140 million in the lawsuit.
FOX 13 News will report Monday on what attorneys say in their opening statements.
