A 21-year-old college student died yesterday of a head injury after a clash between police and a crowd of Red Sox fans celebrating their team's victory over the New York Yankees in the streets outside Fenway Park.
Victoria Snelgrove, a journalism major at Emerson College, was shot in the eye by a projectile fired by an officer on crowd-control duty after the Red Sox' Game 7 victory Wednesday night. The nature of the projectile was not immediately identified but the weapons are meant to be non-lethal.
During a news conference carried live on local television stations, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole expressed the department's sympathies 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.
Snelgrove was among 16 people hurt in Boston's Kenmore Square neighborhood early yesterday morning, after thousands of fans took to the streets to celebrate the Red Sox winning the American League pennant. She died at Brigham and Women's Hospital later in the day.
"It appears from evidence we have reviewed thus far that Tori was killed when she was hit in the eye by a projectile fired as officers tried to control mobs outside the ballpark," O'Toole said. "Designated officers were equipped with less-lethal systems that use projectiles designed to break upon impact, dousing the target with pepper-like spray."
O'Toole and Mayor Thomas Menino pledged to fully investigate the incident.
Snelgrove's father, Rick Snelgrove, expressed outrage and said his daughter did nothing wrong. Standing outside the family home in Bridgewater, Mass., 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 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."
A police officer was among the others injured in the melee, but none of the other injuries was severe. Eight arrests were reported during the Boston celebration. The crowd set several small fires and numerous fights broke out, police said.
