Posted on 10/22/2004 3:46:41 AM PDT by 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.''
At least we know that there won't be any police response to the next riot in Boston, since they'll be blamed for the rioters behavior.
Wonder what'll happen if the Sox win the series?
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 am a paintball enthusiast, and more than the accuracy, I see another glaring issue that contributed tot his girls death.
According to the manufacturer of this system at their website,www.pepperball.com, the velocity settings on this weapon are between 300-380 FPS.
At most paintball fields, you're allowed to set your gun no higher than 285 FPS. At 300 FPS and a range of 20 feet, I've seen paintballs penetrate aluminum cans without bursting.
That being said, at a velocity of 300-380 FPS, I can easily see a paintball penetrating the eye.
I once suffered a devastating eye injury(Burst like a grape) from not wearing eye protection while operating a table saw. The optometerist informed me that had the projectile that struck my eye been smaller, it could've killed me.
Police that use these weapons must take extreme care not to hit targets in the face.
"Lets not try to blame the victim here....shes dead and can't respond to your posts."
Please show me where I BLAME this girl. I said she made a tragic mistake by not choosing to get away, far away from an out-of-control mob of 3000.
You, on the other hand, are trying to make her out to be a martyr.
Do you think there's any possibility that this poor girl could have been hit with a bottle, brick, or metal post - and THAT could've killed her as well? The police were trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt and unfortunately that wasn't what happened. Seems to me you're trying to put all the responsibility of this tragedy on the police and on this young girl you put none.
As a mother of three, it breaks my heart this girl is dead. Such a waste of life - I'm angry because it was senseless and totally avoidable. Seems the police are already taking responsibility for their part in this. I wonder how many of those "mob" participants are sorry today they went into a drunken rage. I wonder how many of them are admitting that they, too, contributed to this girl's death.
I very much doubt any more than 30% of perps would die from a torso hit. With good marksmanship, that number could be significantly reduced.
Cooper's essay was centered on disabling the instigators of riots.
And yes, I think instigators should be met with deadly force, so 22lr are "kids gloves".
My understanding is the Israelis have adopted the technique perhaps on Cooper's suggestion.
Never underestimate the potential for mayhem of stupid people in large numbers.
Gee, I wonder if we will have rioting when Bush wins?
>>The issue is that the police overreacted and an innocent girl was killed because of it.<<
The police did not overreact. Her death was an accident, as the death of a passenger who was not wearing a seat belt in a car accident is an accident.
A freak accident, apparently...
Gee, I wonder if we will have rioting when Bush wins?
And Kerry wants to have a victory party in Copley Square?
"Never underestimate the potential for mayhem of stupid people in large numbers."
Amen!
Why don't they just pass a law that says no one can go anywhere but to work and back and have to spend the rest of their time in their homes too. Oy!
Naturally the civil disturbances, fire setting, general rioting, and other things that occurred which prompted the incident don't factor in.
What happens if a mob goes looting and the same thing happens? What, do they hamstring the cops even further!
BTW, this is tragic, but naturally everyone's looking at and evaluating the symptom, NOT the PROBLEM!!!
Those poor parents! This was senseless all the way around.
Good response, sounds like a riot. We all know that in some countries there are dozens of deaths after soccer games and that's not the way we do things here.
ping
You need to tell this to the reporter from the Herald: He or she wrote..............
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.
You're sounding like an angry liberal.
Nicely done!
Read the first paragraph of your story.
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