Boston: Cops take full responsibility for death of girl, father speaks

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/10/21/emerson_college_student_dies_after_postgame_melee_associated_press/

Emerson College student dies after postgame melee
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | October 21, 2004

BOSTON -- A 21-year-old college student died Thursday of a head injury after a clash between police and a crowd of Red Sox fans who poured into the streets outside Fenway Park to celebrate their team's victory over the New York Yankees.

Victoria Snelgrove, a journalism major at Emerson College in Boston, was shot in the eye by a projectile fired by an officer on crowd-control duty. The nature of the projectile was not immediately identified but officers were armed with weapons meant to be non-lethal.

During a news conference carried live on local television stations, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole apologized to Snelgrove's family and said the agency "accepts full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove.

"The Boston Police Department is devastated by this tragedy. This terrible event should never have happened," O'Toole said.

(snip)

Snelgrove's father, Rick Snelgrove, expressed outrage and said his daughter did nothing wrong. Standing outside the family home, he held up a photograph of his smiling daughter.

"What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game, no matter what," he said. "She loved the Red Sox. She went in to celebrate with friends. She was a bystander. She was out of the way, but she still got shot. Awful things happen to good people. My daughter was an exceptional person."

...more...

[smirkymonkey]

1. How tragic...

I hate hearing about things like this.

For some reason, I see this as a portent of things to come in the event of post-election riots and/or civil war. The more unruly the public gets, the more force used by the cops.

[Zero Division]

2. F*ck, this is depressing. Hopefully there will be an adequate...

investigation into both this incident and the use of so-called "non-lethal" weapons, so that this type of thing never happens again.

[Trajan]

3. How awful ....

at least the PD has the decency to take responsibility upfront ....

It does seem an accident, given the ready acceptence of cause ...

BTW: Where ya been Will ? ... havent seen your awesome posts lately ... I hope all is well with William Rivers Pitt ...

[WilliamPitt]

6. I've been around

All is well enough. Thanks for asking. :)

[Trajan]

8. Well enough ....

Euphemism for 'Heaven on Earth' ....

I know the adage well ...

Well enough ....

It's as good as it gets .....

[bigwillq]

4. What a tragedy

I feel so bad for that family.:cry:

[Mikimouse]

5. Well, that's just f*cking great!

I never had much respect for the BPD, and it seems that they simply insist on giving me more fodder. I remember the old days at the English High School (class of '71), when the BPD would roll in there as Hall monitors and treat all of the students like dirt. Didn't like 'em then, like 'em even less now. I am sure that by taking full responsibility for the death, the person who fired the shot will end up in Walpole, right?

[Kat45]

25. Did you go to English High, Mikimouse?

I knew some kids in the class of '74.

[Mikimouse]

26. Holy Mackeral!!!!!!! I did indeed, class of '71...

Wow, like, wow! I have been looking for other English alums for years. The school itself seems to have disappeared, at least its website is a collection of dead links. I would love to hear from other English grads. I was in the last graduating class out of the old Commerce High building, right across the street from Latin. It is great to know that there are still people who remember the old place. Thank you for writing!!! :toast: :hippie: :hi:

[Bluebear]

7. Journalism major, lovely girl, bright future...

I'm sick for her family. :(

[miss_kitty]

9. Link for the '...more...' ? please

thanks

[WilliamPitt]

10. Added

Sorry:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/10/21/emerson_college_student_dies_after_postgame_melee_associated_press/

[mongo]

11. That poor young woman - with her whole life ahead of her.

This is really awful. I never had much contact with the Boston PD when I lived up there, but the Revere cops were really cool - much nicer than Chicago cops (HA!) and very professional.

Let's just say they had the opportunity to search my apt., and when they found some contraband that was NOT what they were looking for, they turned a blind eye - and didn't even confiscate.

[rockydem]

12. Isn't this LBN?

[WilliamPitt]

13. It has been widely discussed here today

[rockydem]

18. Is it posted in LBN too?

[Taverner]

14. If only the cops here in San Jose would take responsibility like this

...or in LA...

[VOX]

15. Jesus, what an unspeakable tragedy.

Such a bright, beautiful young woman, just...gone.

I hope that the Boston community can come together and try to create something constructive out of this terrible, needless loss -- a foundation for victims of violence, perhaps.

Incredibly sad and heart-wrenching.

[flamingyouth]

16. That is just horribly sad

What a lovely young woman. My heart goes out to her family and her friends. :cry:

[MallRat]

17. Oh my god... I was certain she must've died from some other injury.

Why would they aim for the head with a weapon like that? It's meant for crowd dispersal: a bean-bag to the chest would have sufficed.

Unreal.

-MR

[Bluebear]

20. TOTALLY ridiculous.

Yes, 2 cars were damaged. Inexcusable and attributed not to "fans" but 'hoodlums' according to the mayor. This overreaction is totally inexcusable and I hope the PD is called into account. Commissioner O'Toole was on the air earlier yesterday warning how tough her PD would be if anything happened, wasn't she.

[KG]

19. firing blindly into a crowd of un-armed civilians, the american way.

oy.

[arwalden]

21. Very Sad.

[Endangered Specie]

22. Non-Lethal weapons are bigtime misnomer...

Most cops/law enforcement call them Less Lethal Weapons.... because they CAN kill. There is no such thing as a completly non-lethal weapon.


Regardless, that is tragic... the cop should be jailed, for a long time.

[johnnie]

23. This is a tragedy

I know folks like to get rowdy when their team wins, but sometimes it just gets out of hand. A lot of times innocent bystanders pay for it in some terrible ways.
Such a sad thing to see happen.

[Downtown Hound]

24. Although I'm glad to see the Boston PD take responsibility for this

this has been a long time coming because these so-called non-lethal weapons are very dangerous. Innocent bystanders have been hit with things like wooden bullets at protest rallies and had their faces permanently paralyzed. There needs to be a serious reexamination of these types of weapons. It's just really tragic that it took this young woman's life for the issue to be raised.