SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Family members of a 29-year-old woman who was killed when her husband ran over her in the parking garage of Utah’s Salt Lake City International Airport have filed a lawsuit against Delta Airlines arguing that their loved one’s partner was knowingly overserved on the flight, leading to her sudden death.
The lawsuit, filed Jan. 19, requested that the family members of Charlotte Marie Sturgeon be compensated for things including past medical expenses, funeral costs, damages caused by the emotional destress of Charlotte’s juvenile child who witnessed the death of her mother, costs of court, and pre- and post-judgment costs provided by law.
According to legal documents, Charlotte was killed on April 5, 2022. She, her husband Shawn Sturgeon, and their child were flying back from a family vacation on a Delta Airlines flight from San Antonio, Texas, to Salt Lake City.
Prior to boarding the plane, Shawn reportedly consumed several alcoholic beverages. He was then served two additional beverages with high levels of alcohol on the flight back to Salt Lake, the lawsuit said.
Upon landing in Salt Lake City, documents stated that the beverages Shawn was served by Delta Airlines employees intoxicated him to the point that he was well over Utah’s legal blood-alcohol limit. Shawn later admitted that he had been so intoxicated he had no memory of landing or walking through the airport.
The family then went to their car in the parking garage to drive home. Shawn entered while Charlotte was still outside of the vehicle, put the car into gear and attempted to leave the parking stall, documents say. In the process, Shawn struck and ran Charlotte over. Their child, in the backseat of the vehicle, witnessed her mother’s injuries and death.
The defendants and family members of Charlotte, Denise Marie Nimtz and Joseph Dalton, filed three separate claims against Delta.
Shawn previously pleaded guilty to the death of Charlotte on July 11, 2022, and was sentenced to one to 20 years in prison on a second-degree felony conviction of vehicular homicide while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and a third-degree felony conviction of domestic violence in the presence of a child.
