Today, May 25, 2005, the Stern Commission, an independent group investigating the police shooting of 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove on October 21, 2004, released their findings. Their report concludes that Snelgrove's death was caused by series a mistakes made by the Boston Police, starting with the purchase of the weapon that was used in the shooting.

Snelgrove, a broadcast journalism student at Emerson College, was killed after being hit in the eye by a pepper-spray projectile while celebrating the Boston Red Sox's victory over the New York Yankees in the American League playoffs. The projectile was fired by a FN-303 "less lethal" launcher that was purchased earlier in the year with funds earmarked for DNC security. Earlier this month the city of Boston paid her family a $5.1 million settlement to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit, and the Boston ACLU released their recommendations for so-called "less lethal" weapons used by the Boston Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth.

However, members of Save Our Civil Liberties feel that there are reasons to be concerned with the Stern report.

[ Stern Commission report | Boston ACLU report | feature about settlement | original feature about Snelgrove's shooting ]

The City of Boston announced yesterday that it will pay the biggest wrongful death settlement in its history, $5 million, to the family of Victoria Snelgrove, the college student killed in October by police trying to control a crowd outside Fenway Park.

On the eve of the Super Bowl, we as Boston area students call on Mayor Menino to publicly assert the need for Boston Police to protect the health and welfare of anyone who wishes to celebrate a New England Patriots victory in the streets of Boston. Bostonians have been gravely harmed by the police responses to public gatherings of sports fans, and the city must reverse course immediately.

"Hooded bloc" is a very easy, yet highly effective form of street theatre that highlights the repression by the Bush Administration, both abroad and at home, by evoking the image of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The following is complete information that shows how easy it is to participate in and deploy a hooded bloc.

Boston, December 7, 2004 --- A Boston area coalition consisting of students, faculty, and community and legal organizations have called for a meeting with Boston City officials to present signatures under two petitions and a list of demands which include changes to police policies regarding use of force and “lethal” and so-called “less-lethal” weapons as well as creation of an independent Citizen Review Board to study and monitor police use of force.

The Oakland Police Department (OPD) has agreed to implement sweeping reforms to end the use of less lethal weapons against demonstrators, a practice that led to dozens of injuries last year at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland. The ACLU-NC, the National Lawyers Guild, and a team of prominent civil rights attorneys announced the unprecedented agreement today. The new OPD crowd control policy prohibits the indiscriminate use of wooden bullets, rubber bullets, tasers, bean bags, pepper spray and police motorcycles to control or disperse crowds or demonstrations.

On Thursday, November 4, the Boston Area Faculty Group on Public Issues, the National Lawyers Guild and the Save Our Civil Liberties (SOCL) Campaign issued a public demand for an immediate moratorium on police use of so-called “non-lethal” and “less-lethal” weapons.

On October 21, Victoria Snelgrove, a 21-year-old Emerson College student, was shot and killed by a police officer using a "less-lethal" weapon. Snelgrove was celebrating the Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees when hundreds of police officers were called in to "control the crowd."

The weapon used in the shooting appears to be a FN303 Less Lethal launcher that fired an Oleoresin Capsicum-filled, .65 caliber polystyrene body projectile. According the manufacturer, "The projectiles have been specially designed to break up on impact, thereby eliminating any risk of penetration injury." However, the officer shot Snelgrove in the eye, in defiance of the manufacturer's recommended use and basic common sense.

The same weapon was used against protesters at the 2003 Miami Free Trade Areas of the Americas Ministerial last November, Direct Action to Stop the War's protest on the Oakland docks on April 7, 2003, as well as at Bush protest in Jacksonville, Oregon on October 13, 2004. Police also fired pepperballs and injured protesters in a Tucson march spearheaded by the National Lawyers Guild last Wednesday, November 3.

In response, Save Our Civil Liberties has launched a petition to ban less-lethal weapons in Boston.

It is ironic that Snelgrove was shot and killed by police the same day that 32 cities across the U.S. protested police brutality as part of the October 22nd National Day of Protest.

Save Our Civil Liberties protests the so-called "free speech zone" at the DNC.

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