Driver, company face lawsuit over protester’s death
An Ontario, Canada, truck driver and the motor carrier that employed him face a $5 million lawsuit over the death of a protester at a pork processing plant in June 2020.
Regan Russell, 65, died on June 19, 2020, when she was struck by a truck while protesting provincial legislation that prohibited protesters from obstructing trucks carrying farm animals and hiked fines for trespassing on farms and food-processing facilities, reports the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. She was with six other protesters with the activist group Toronto Pig Save. They were giving water to pigs in transport trucks outside Fearman’s Pork, a processing plant.
Andrew Blake was the driver of the truck that struck Russell. The lawsuit names him, the company he worked for, Brussels Transport, and Sofina Foods, the company that owns Fearman’s Pork processing plant in Burlington, Ontario.
Police determined there was no evidence of criminal intent by the driver. Blake faces one count of careless driving causing death under the Highway Traffic Act. No court date has been set, reports The Canadian Press.
The lawsuit was brought by Russell’s life partner, Mark Powell, who told CBC that he had lost faith in the prosecutors.
The lawsuit alleges the driver failed to keep a proper lookout and made an unsafe and improper turn. It also alleges Brussels Transport failed to take steps to ensure the driver was competent and that Sofina failed to provide safety for pedestrians around Fearmans.
The bill that Russell and others was protesting seemed to target Toronto Pig Save, CBC reported. It had passed two days before her death. The activist group’s advocates for years had filmed and given water to pigs inside transport trucks as they neared slaughter. They call it “bearing witness.”
Powell and his son, Joshua Powell, have created the Regan Russell Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting the anti-protest legislation and supporting animal rights.
Activists continue weekly protests near Fearman’s Pork, but the protesters keep to the median where trucks stop at traffic signals to give water to pigs. This is away from the place where Russell was struck, CBC reported. LL
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