Robert Boggan maybe would still be alive.
Boggan was arrested at a Dollar Tree store Aug. 18, 2005 by sheriff’s deputies after a disturbance. Escambia County Sheriff’s Office charged him with aggravated assault and criminal mischief. The 65-year-old man then spent 11 days in the jail before he died naked, strapped to an “emergency” restraint chair.
Boggan’s mental health deteriorated while in the jail. He was placed in the jail infirmary. He refused care and was not allowed to see his family.
He become uncooperative. He would take off all his clothes in his cell, sit on the floor with his fists clenched, rocking back and forth and then urinate all over himself. He would stuff his meals in the toilet. He spat at corrections officers. He was tasered for his behavior.
On August 29, 2005 – things got worse:
From our Oct. 15, 2006 article “The Death of Robert Boggon“:
“On or about Aug. 29 at around chow time, Mr. Boggon was ordered to give CO [correction officer] Speller his food tray. As was usual while he was in the Infirmary, Mr. Boggon just stood there confused.
“Thereafter, Defendants [correction officers] Roger Lastinger and Scott Driver arrived and had already decided that Mr. Boggon was going to be pepper sprayed.
“Driver said, ‘It’s time for us to give him some attitude adjustment.’
“Lastinger and Driver then pepper sprayed Mr. Boggon twice.
“After being pepper sprayed twice in the face, Mr. Boggon was dragged from his cell, stripped naked and forced into the shower cell.
“A Lexan Stun Shield was called for and brought to the Infirmary.
“Naked and wet, the ‘D’ shift COs, jointly and individually, participated in hitting Mr. Boggon with the Lexan Stun Shield and shooting him, at least three times, with at least one Taser Gun.
“Each time the Taser’s darts were shot into Mr. Boggon’s wet chest and he was shocked with 50,000 volts, the entire shower cell walls flashed, as if lightning were striking in that small space. Mr. Boggon screamed for his life on each occasion.
“Defendant [correction officer] Sherrie Day laughed, while this torture was inflicted upon Mr. Boggon.
“Mr. Boggon then collapsed in the shower. His body was then strapped in a restraining chair and a towel was tied around his head.
“The ‘D’ shift COs then dragged the wet restraining chair, with Mr. Boggon’s body in it, back to his cell. Mr. Boggon’s head, tied with a towel, was slumped to one side. He was not moving and he was not talking.
“…At this point, Defendant Elaine Gregory, a nurse, was in the area but did not check on the lifeless Mr. Boggon. No one checked on his condition.
“…At about 11 p.m. Aug. 29, Defendants Angela Currie and Lisa Whitlock entered cell 260 and finally discovered that Mr. Boggon was, indeed, dead.”
The medical examiner declared the death a homicide, but no one was at fault. The cause of death -“Combined effects of arteriosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease and paranoid schizophrenia.”
Boggan was a truck driver who loved Western clothes and had more than 40 cowboy hats and big belt buckles. He visited 40 of the 50 states, as a truck driver who was working last for Celadon Trucking Services. He was the backbone of his family.
If Escambia County had a mental health court in August 2005, Boggan would have gotten the medical treatment that he needed. He wouldn’t have been isolated from his loved ones who could have helped with his recovery.
Today the Escambia County Commisson will decide how to use its Dept. of Justice block grants. Sheriff Morgan wants to establish a mental health court.
The Public Safety Committee played Solomon on Tuesday and divided the money up among the all the applicants: Drug Court, PJC Police, State Attorney and Mental Health Court.
The meeting is at 5 p.m. at the Escambia County Complex – I expect there to be a crowd speaking out for the Mental Health Court.