Posted on 11/05/2004 4:07:07 AM PST by 4kevin
Civil rights advocates angry over the death of a student hit by a pepper-spray pellet are circulating petitions seeking a temporary ban on the Boston Police Department's use of so-called "less-lethal" weapons for crowd control purposes. Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole last week appointed an independent commission to investigate the Oct. 21 death of Victoria Snelgrove and review weapons like the one believed to have caused the 21-year-old's death during a celebration of a Red Sox victory. But critics of such weapons who held a news conference Thursday said Boston police use of pepper-ball pellets, bean bag projectiles and rubber bullets should be halted immediately. Any resumption of use should not occur until steps are taken to independently test the weapons, expand police training in their use and ensure accountability, the groups said.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Maybe they think rioters would be better controlled with a "time-out".
Naaaaa. Next time, the Boston PD should just whip out the shotguns.
What the heck. That would remove a couple dozen leftist votes in 2008 anyway?
Less-lethal weapons are for wusses.
Did you know some of those ever-so sweet college kids had stabbed some Boston police horses with a pencil. Kinda got the whole incident rolling. And you'd think they would learn from her death but no, approx. 30 were arrested during the Boston Red Sox rolling rally. But, o'h they're just kids. Pathetic.
The Boston police are pretty heavy handed at times. There is no civilian review board here. I saw an interview with one kid who got hit in the upper lip by one of these projectiles, splitting it open and bleeding all over the place. As his girlfiend was helping him to get some help they approached the cops asking for help, and the blasted him with another 12 shots. His whole upper torso was covered with huge welts.
The solution to this whole problem is, the next time riots happen, round up all of these liberal people, put them in front of the riot, tell them to make the riot 'go away', then leave them.
If the police are the ones who split your lip, it doesn't strike me as the best idea to go up to them in the middle of a riot asking for help.
Too much "Officer Friendly" indoctrination, I guess.
We used to call them "Riot Guns"- you were supposed to skip the charge over the pavement in front of the rioters to inflict "less than lethal" wounds... didn't always work out that way.
Like what....stern language?
Listen I live in the Boston area and these cops were dead wrong. I watch these so called "riots" and they did not warrant the force they used. So to all the people who think "using shotguns" and that there would be "less liberals" get some class. A innocent 20 year old girl died.
Moments after the Red Sox' 10-3 ALCS win early Thursday, some 80,000 delirious Boston faithful poured out from bars and clubs. Fans went out of control, burning a car, hurling bottles and clashing with riot cops, resulting in 16 injuries and eight arrests. One cop's nose was broken by a flying bottle and officials are considering banning alcohol sales during the World Series games. The chaos reached its fiery climax on Boylston Street, a block from Fenway, when a few hundred drunken hooligans attacked a parked Nissan Xterra that bore New York plates. The crowd smashed its windows and set it on fire.
Hell I guess we should let them get it out of their system and leave the cops at home.
It makes for poor habit that may bleed over to the lethal weapons.
I haven't heard anything about that. Not even in the Boston Herald. The NYpost has it wrong.
While I agree that the manner of employment of force is questionable in this case, "innocent" is a stretch. You don't hang around riots where bad things are happening, if you have any sense. She has some (say, 10-20%) responsibility for this outcome.
How many people have died falling in their showers? Ban all bathing!!!
A fire hose would be a great tool in this case. When the officers would form their human wall and approach the crowd literally anyone within a 25 foot range would scatter. This planned seemed to working perfectly.
Or, here's a chance to try that 'sensitive' thing Kerry's been wanting...
Personally, I agree that they should stop using the less-lethal weapons.
Why not just use the plain old lethal kind?
Then she's now in Heaven.
What's the problem?
I was there. Ten feet from the girl. We had no idea the police were firing in our direction. It was an accident. I assumed she had simply passed out or taken an elbow to the nose. The girl I was with spent several hours at the police station a few days later to offer testimony.
I can tell you that the same policeman who made the errant shot had bottles raining down on him I was there. I saw it.
-T
p.s. The curse is dead! ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.