Summerside woman continues anti-Taser campaign

August 23, 2007
Nigel Armstrong, The Guardian, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Summerside woman continues anti-Taser campaign
Riki Bagnell, whose son Robert was Tasered and died in Vancouver, has letter published in Mississippi newspaper

Summerside mother Riki Bagnell and her daughter are maintaining a North American-wide lobby against the Taser weapon used by police. Bagnell had one of her letters published today in the on-line edition of the Clarion Ledger newspaper which serves the Jackson area of Mississippi. Bagnell’s letter is in response to news articles about the death of Rafael Forbes on Aug. 15 this year. Jackson police used a Taser on the 21-year-old. Bagnell’s son Robert also died following a jolt from a Taser. Vancouver police used a Taser on Robert, then 44, in June 2004.

Since then Bagnell and her daughter Patti Gillman have been active in opposing the use of the Taser. Patti has been an active contributor to an on-going blog that opposes the Taser weapon. The blog states that eight people and one bear have been Tasered to death in this month of August, bringing the death toll to 286 from a technique that police often say is a “less than lethal” use of force.