Guide Note

January 17, 2008: Baron "Scooter" Pikes was tasered to death in Winnfield, LA, by a police officer. Pikes had been arrested on an outstanding warrant. The police officer who shocked Pikes, Scott Nugent, could face criminal charges after a coroner ruled the death a homicide.¹

The incident - and suspicions of a cover-up - have stirred up racial tension in Winnfield. Scott Nugent is white and Pikes was a black man.²

Fast Facts

1. 21 at time of his death
2. Died: January 17, 2008, approx. 2:07 p.m.
3. Employed as a sawmill worker
4. Death ruled a homicide in June 2008¹
5. Pikes is a first cousin to Mychal Bell, a defendant in the Jena 6 case³
6. Suspicions of a cover-up³
7. Scott Nugent described as "well-connected"³
8. Pikes' stepmother: "A lot happens in this town and it just gets swept under the rug"³

1. Scott Nugent spotted Pikes and arrested him on outstanding warrant for drug possession
2. Pikes did not resist arrest⁴
3. Tasered nine times
4. Was handcuffed when being tasered
5. Reportedly pleaded for mercy²
6. May have been dead after the seventh Taser shot¹