Black police officer, Bennett College co-ed among 15 killed in commuter plane crash near Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Two Blacks, a suburban Chicago police officer and an honors student at Bennett College in Greensboro, NC, were among the 15 people who died recently when American Eagle flight 3379 crashed near the Raleigh-Durham (NC) International Airport.

At JET press time, David Parker Jr., 39, a 13-year veteran of the Zion (IL) Police Department, and Katanisha Turner, 20, a native of Redford, MI, who was enrolled at Bennett College, were the only known Blacks on the doomed fight that left Greensboro en route to the Raleigh-Durham airport hub.

The Jetstream 3200 commuter plane was carrying 20 people, five of whom survived, when it slammed into woods at 200 mph in rain and fog just about 3.5 miles outside of the airport. Parker, a native of Burlington, NC, had been visiting relatives in the Greensboro area for nearly two weeks.

Flags were flown at half-staff outside police headquarters in memory of Parker, who was remembered as a dedicated public servant.

Parker, whose parents predeceased him, is survived by a brother, Michael.

Ms. Turner was a 1992 graduate of Thurston High School where she was in the business department and remembered as a hard-working and very pleasant student, according to research compiled by the Redford Township District Library.

Classmates and administrators at Bennett, where Ms. Turner was majoring in education, also had fond memories of the young woman who was on her way home for the Christmas holiday.

Dr. Alice Stone, director of the department of education, said, Katanisha had the potential to be an outstanding teacher. Her death is a loss not only to her family and the college, but to the teaching profession."

She is survived by her parents, Solomon and Mildred Turner; her guardian, Rhonda Elliott; three sisters, Diane Burroughs, LaTonya Knights and Delphine Turner-Glenn; a grandmother, Grace Turner; a niece and three nephews.

The accident followed the Oct. 31 crash of a different type of American Eagle plane that killed all 68 people aboard (JET, Nov. 21).