A 26-year-old baggage handler at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport died Tuesday night (August 30) after her hair was caught in machinery.
Jermani Thompson was unloading a Frontier Airlines plane when her hair got entangled, according to a report from the New York Daily News.
The young woman was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead.
“We are heartbroken and are supporting her family and her friends as best as we are able. Please send your well wishes to everyone at our New Orleans station during this very difficult time,” Mike Hough, the CEO of the CEO of GAT Airline Ground Support, said in a statement.
The young woman was well known and loved in her community. Thompson was a college basketball player who played at Hesston College in Kansas and Tougaloo College in Mississippi. She once aspired to play in the WNBA.
“She was a great shooter, could shoot threes and played hard, played tough,” her former coach Stasha Thomas-James said. “She had a great attitude.”
Her mother, Angela Dorsey told Nola.com, “She was my baby girl. Everybody loved her.” She added, “I’m just lost for words. I can’t even think.”
New Orleans Airport Director of Aviation Kevin Dolliole said, “Jermani was part of our airport family, and we will continue to support one another in any way we can during this trying time.”
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