emaiL - eye witness red sox fan death

[sniffa]

Here are the pictures I took of what happened on Landsdown St. Top left was of the crowd right before (less than a minute) the police started shooting into the crowd . A couple minutes prior to that, the police came in with their guns and started shooting at the people standing on the Fenway wall support beams. Those people fell and the rest of the crowd got a little pissed. The crowd got a little verbal with the police (asking them whey they were shooting at those people, chanting "don't shoot me", a few were chanting fuck the police) but it was nowhere close to be violent nor choatic as you can see in the picture. Then a bottle came out of no where and fell next to a cop on a horse (see second and third picture) and they just turn toward the crowd and started shooting into the crowd. That girl was about 5-10 feet on the right of me at the time the first picture was taken. As soon as the police started shooting, the crowd turned and started running. I passed the girl when I was running away. I thought she just tripped and since the people around her (while risking getting shot themselves) were trying to help her up (so she wouldn't get run over by the other people running choatically in fear), I didn't think too much of it at the time. After I got to a safe distance, I turned around and saw the girl was still on the sidewalk. At that point the police with guns had gone the other direction so I went back to take a closer look. There was a pool of blood and she was just lying there unconscious with 2 or 3 people around her trying to see if she was okay. Other people were taking pictures and trying to call 911 while one cop just stood there and watched. 5-10 minutes later, the ambulance came and took her away. Was anyone else there? Please share your story and your pictures (I know at least half of the people there had cameras). The City and the PD are trying to paint a picture of them trying to control an unruly crowd of rioters so it wouldn't look as bad for them that they killed someone. But that was just the furtherest thing from the truth. You know it, I know it, and I think all the people who weren't there should know too.

Anyone who was there knew the police were completely out of line. We was shocked by the police's lack of concern for people falling down from the Fenway supporting beams. That's why the crowd got a little rowdy. And as you can see in the picture, most were just shocked. Some were angry and a few thought it was funny that people got shot at. You tell me if this crowd warranted to be shot at.




i'm under the impression that someone set up a web page for this but i didn't get the addy in my emaiL. when i do i'LL update. :cry:

it's from craig's List - don't have the exact Link yet.

[maveric]

1. What were the cops shooting?

Bullets? Rubber bullets?, Pepper spray? Bean bags?

[sniffa]

2. pepper baLLs

on the news - they showed video of the poLice shooting a few peopLe in the face. it kiLLed this poor girL.

[maveric]

3. OMFG!

Do you have a link to the story? I've been at work and out of touch here.

[sniffa]

6. here

the originaL story when news hit that she had died (she was in criticaL condition untiL Lunch time the next day).

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

[name not needed]

15. Pepper balls?

I don't think it was that. Pepper balls are nothing but paintballs filled with mace. And I've never heard of anyone dying after being shot in the face with the paintball gun. Hell, I've been shot in the face with a paintball gun.

[AngryAmish]

16. Went through her eyeball into her brain

[name not needed]

18. That would do it

The gun's velocity must have been pretty damned high.

[StopTheMorans]

20. 300 ft per second

f*cking cops; they should anticipate these things and get on them before they get out of control; i mean, i've lived here for 3 years, and it's only happened after the pats won in 2002 and 2004, and after the red sox won in oakland last year; i guess they couldn't see it coming :eyes: it's good that they accepted responsibility, because it's their damn fault for not controlling it in the first place.

[name not needed]

21. They shouldn't be using paintball guns for riot control

There's a reason paintball masks exist. They don't make them just to be extra careful.

Not to mention the shell is plastic on pepperballs.

[tcfrogs]

4. I heard bean bags

no link, sorry.

[TX-RAT]

11. same here

[sniffa]

12. the originaL report said bean bags

but it was apparentLy pepper-baLLs.

[JohnKleeb]

5. Sniffa did you say people found it funny?

Jeez man. Such a sad event really, my prayers for her family and friends and her, such a sad, sad thing to happen after such a happy event.

[sniffa]

8. pLease see my earLy morning rant

the more i hear about this, but worse, the more pictures and video i watch of what happened, the more i now want to cry. i hope my anger comes back, because it's easier than being sad.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=158&topic_id=1354&mesg_id=1354

[JohnKleeb]

10. WTF is with people

[Amaya]

7. Totally fucking senseless!

The cop that did this ... will he be charged?

[sniffa]

9. i'd say no

are they ever charged?

y'know, there were asshoLes rioting Last night, but they weren't the ones the cops fired on.

[BeyondGeography]

13. More on this tragedy, from the NY Daily News

Lisa Olson, a columnist, saw Tori on the ground. One of her friends asked Olson about WS tix while waiting for the ambulance. Like everyone else, she obviously had no idea how bad things were:

<snip>
In the harsh morning light, as the Red Sox's staggering ALCS win over the Yankees was being digested at breakfast tables all across New England, the devastating impact was revealed. At some point during one of the several clashes between revelers and police, Victoria Snelgrove, a 21-year-old journalism major at Emerson College, was hit in the eye by a projectile fired by an officer on crowd-control - and later died. Even as she lay on the cold sidewalk outside Kenmore Square, bleeding from an injury Boston Mayor Tom Menino later admitted was the result of a "non-lethal weapon," Victoria's friends talked of her devotion to the Sox.

"She's a wicked fan," said one young woman. "She couldn't wait to run out here and be a part of the fun."

What a tragic, terrible way to mar what was meant to be the joyous culmination of a legendary, deliciously tortured series. I had no idea Victoria was severely hurt when I saw her on the sidewalk early yesterday morning, her friends holding tissue to her forehead and eye. An ambulance was on its way, they said, but when one of them asked if I knew when the team's charter landed, and if I could get them World Series tickets, I figured this was one more paragraph to a night gone mad and left them there, holding the hand of a girl who loved the Sox.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/244976p-209871c.html

[JohnKleeb]

14. Thanks for that man

This woman was a human being, I cant believe some people found this funny. The guy in what sniff showed me called Boston the town of LOSER, now Boston may have a hard time winning baseball championships but its not the town of LOSER, it's the home of the American Revolution in many ways. Real sad, may Victoria rest in peace, its just so sad.

[Quetzal]

17. My brother was at Fenway park

How many people were there Sniffa? He said there were at least more than 10,000 - maybe even 20,000.

He too remembers everything happening quickly. He said the cops all of a sudden started launching tear gas or some kind of irritant into the crowd. He ran his @$$ out of there as fast as he could. Luckily, his frat is right on Commonwealth, so it wasn't far away.

He also stated that the crowd dispersed in like 10-30 seconds when the cops started launching the irritant. Any other questions you want me to ask him?

[JohnKleeb]

19. thanks for that account

there are some who are blaming the sox fans for this. :eyes: can you believe it.