Cops’ pepper shot kills student

Boston Herald ^ | Friday, October 22, 2004 | By Tom Farmer and Dave Wedge

[ninonitti]

The sequence of events that led to the death of an Emerson College student began when a half-dozen officers on horseback were surrounded by rioting Red Sox fans on Lansdowne Street about 1:30 a.m. yesterday, witnesses said.

By the time armor-clad cops dispersed the crowd of some 3,000 in the shadow of Fenway Park's Green Monster, Victoria Snelgrove, 21, lay fatally injured. She had been struck in the eye by one of a number of pepper balls fired by police to quell unruly fans throwing bottles and bricks.

``The cops (on horseback) pushed in and the people closed in behind them,'' said Emerson student Brett Schweinberg, 18, who was struck by two pepper projectiles fired by police while trying to scale the Green Monster.

``They were surrounded by people and a bottle landed near a horse and it spooked it. It faltered and it got jittery and 30 to 40 seconds later, cops turned around and fired at a group of people about 20 feet to my left. People scattered except for one girl who was bleeding from the nose and mouth.''

A Herald reporter in the midst of the crowd saw revelry turn to mob mentality. Several people tried to scale the Green Monster, at least one of whom plummeted to the ground after being shot by a projectile.

Small fires burned, street signs were torn down and trash barrels were tossed about as police struggled to control the increasingly hostile crowd. Several cars became trapped by walls of people while drivers spun their tires and blared stereos - some with people riding on the roof. Several bottles were thrown, one of which reportedly struck a police officer, breaking his nose.

Theshot that killed Snelgrove followed a standoff between a cop on horseback and a young man wearing a gray knit hat. Standing by a bustling sausage cart, the man refused the officer's orders to move, prompting the officer to reach down and toss him to the ground. After getting up, the man hurled profanities at the cop and made several obscene gestures.

More bottles were thrown as at least one riot cop fired projectiles into the crowd, one of which apparently struck Snelgrove. She immediately fell to the ground while her friends tended to her, rubbing her head as blood streamed from her face. Horrified onlookers shouted ``get an ambulance'' as the girl drifted in and out of consciousness. One of the riot cops checked on the girl briefly. Approximately five minutes after she collapsed, mounted police cleared a path for an ambulance and the girl was taken away.

As cops cleared the crowd, one young man who had been standing near Snelgrove shouted at police, ``Are you happy? Murderers!''

One officer was stunned at the ferocity of the violence. ``I saw the horses surrounded,'' he said. ``It was like a vacuum. They got sucked in. I saw guys holding small trees they had pulled out of the ground like warriors. They were holding steel sign posts they had bent over and broken. We had to fight to get control.''

[Poohbah]

My idea of crowd control: a Humvee with a Mark 19 AGL in a pintle mount, firing HE.

[streetpreacher]

"As cops cleared the crowd, one young man who had been standing near Snelgrove shouted at police, ``Are you happy? Murderers!''"

Those cops didn't kill that young girl. That "young man" and his mob buddies did.

[streetpreacher]

The problem with modern sporting events is that they are nothing more than public keg parties.

[streetpreacher]

"I'm all for keeping order, but I do expect professionalism out of the police as the NYPD demonstrated on 9/11."

What does 9/11 have to do with a mob rioting? On 9/11, the people weren't the problem, the falling buildings were.

The NYPD, as you know, has a lot of controversy in this area. Just ask Al Sharpton.

[WildTurkey]

I saw (on TV) people on top of vehicles and at least one vehicle on fire.

[Southern62]

that is ridiculous - a .22 is disproportionally lethal.

They like to travel once inside - very nasty round.

[Sirc_Valence]

"Give it up the Boston Police have already admitted they screwed up. And as for the American Revolution, do you remember the Boston Massacre?"

This is obviously just PR for the idiotic lib enablers of indecent behavior. Using riot control tools against a rioting mob is not the equivalent of the incident of deliberately killing protesters of occupation in the Boston Massacre. I give up trying to reason with you.

[AdamSelene235]

that is ridiculous - a .22 is disproportionally lethal.

Oh well, it sucks to stupid and destroying property.

They like to travel once inside - very nasty round.

They fragment a bit. So long as it doesnt overpentrate and endanger an innocent bystander or damage property.

[Terabitten]

There is no way "non-lethal" weapons should result in a death.

That's why weapons like pepper spray, batons, TASERs, etc., aren't known by professionals as "non-lethal" weapons anymore. The preferred term is "less lethal," meaning there is a much, much lower probability of kill than from a more traditional weapon like a firearm.

This young woman's death is a horrible tragedy, made worse by the fact that the police most certainly did NOT intend to use deadly force. If the officer in question meant to use deadly force, he would have drawn and fired his service weapon instead of the pepperball.

[monday]

"Open season on young women - how dare you say such a thing!"

The only fatality in this incident was caused by the police. You support the police, so presumably you support the killing of this young woman. See how you are?

Anyway, the police have acknowledged responsibility for her wrongful death. It is only people like you who defend their mistakes that don't get it.

[monday]

"Yes it is. The cops were surrounded by people who were beginning an honest-to-goodness riot. Do you suggest that the cops should have read 19th century French poetry to calm the crowd?"

I think they should get high power lights and cameras and film everyone present, then show it on TV the next day. Embarrass them, then make the rioters pay for damages and do 3 or 4 years in prison each. Another method might be to fire really loud blanks into the air. Gunshots usually get peoples attention. What you don't want to do is make victims of the rioters by shooting them. Unless they are beating someone up, killing them is unreasonable.

[r9etb]

Uh huh. And I suppose the threat of future embarassment would have mollified the nice people who were tearing things up and headed toward the cops with makeshift clubs....

Lest you get on too high a horse here, the girl's death was an ACCIDENT, and a freak accident at that.

[monday]

"That being said, at a velocity of 300-380 FPS, I can easily see a paintball penetrating the eye."

Why is it necessary for the velocity to be so high? Pepper spray is very effective at any velocity. Seems to me they would only have to be delivered fast enough to burst on impact. Perhaps 50 FPS? 300-380 FPS makes it appear that the police intention was to cause injuries similar to those caused by rubber bullets.

Perhaps crowd control isn't satisfying for police unless there is a chance of permanent injury or death for rioters?

[monday]

"In crowd control situations or in situation's when a perp is running through innocent bystanders, it's use is no can longer be thought of as "non-lethal"."

That was always the case. The police used it incorrectly THIS time.

[LibSnubber]

"Anyway, the police have acknowledged responsibility for her wrongful death. It is only people like you who defend their mistakes that don't get it."

Only in your dreams!

Come back with proof that those 6 policemen went out with the intent to kill this woman - picking her out of a crowd of 3000 and I might reconsider my opinion.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Why is it necessary for the velocity to be so high? Pepper spray is very effective at any velocity. Seems to me they would only have to be delivered fast enough to burst on impact. Perhaps 50 FPS? 300-380 FPS makes it appear that the police intention was to cause injuries similar to those caused by rubber bullets.

Speculation...but pepperpaintballs have a harder shell than regular paintballs do, mainly due to the filler having a solid in it(Pepper), rather than being all liquid. If a paintball has too soft a shell, it will bust in the barrel.

Looks like Boston police are asking the same question.

[monday]

"That doesn't mean I joined the 10,000-person mobs who went around campus setting bonfires and throwing bottles at cops! It's simply foolish to knowingly put yourself in a situation that's likely to get out of control."

She didn't either. She just went out to drink with friends and watch the game in a bar. This could probably all have been avoided if the bars in the area had staggered their closing times.

Instead 'last call' came at the same time all over the neighborhood, so the bars emptied out all at once, putting hundreds of drunk people out on the street at the same time. Almost an college kid in America could have made the same mistake she did. She wasn't stupider than most.

[monday]

"Uh huh. And I suppose the threat of future embarassment would have mollified the nice people who were tearing things up and headed toward the cops with makeshift clubs.... "

Seeing a riot on TV where the perpetrators were later punished might make people think twice about putting themselves in that sort of situation in the future. It obviously won't have any effect until after it is tried.

Yes an accident, caused by police incompetence. What is clear is that the police intended to cause serious physical harm to someone and that they apparently DID NOT KNOW that the weapon they used could kill.

They also apparently missed their intended target and hit an innocent bystander. Perhaps they need more training? or perhaps they simply need to be told to aim before pulling the trigger? Who knows?

What is clear is that this was an accident that didn't need to happen.

[r9etb]

. What is clear is that the police intended to cause serious physical harm to someone and that they apparently DID NOT KNOW that the weapon they used could kill.

Oh? It's clear? C'mon, monday(morning quarterback) -- your agenda is showing. The only things clear in this story are a) the cops were attempting to subdue an ugly crowd, who b) were advancing on the cops, and that c) they did not intend to kill anybody.