Trucker guilty of careless driving causing 2020 death of animal rights activist

A truck driver has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of a 65-year-old animal rights activist.

Andrew Blake appeared by video today before an Ontario court and pleaded guilty to the provincial offence.

Regan Russell was demonstrating outside a pig slaughterhouse west of Toronto on June 19, 2020 when she was run over by a semi-trailer as it pulled into the plant.

An agreed statement of facts, read by the Crown prosecutor, said Blake should have been aware Russell was standing near the driveway and eventual path of his truck when he turned into the Fearmans Pork plant.

Russell’s elderly parents delivered victim impact statements, their voice breaking as they told the court about the devastating loss of a beloved daughter and caregiver.

Fellow animal rights activists with Toronto Pig Save stood outside the courthouse this morning, holding banners and posters with Russell’s face and name.