Original Article Boston settles with family of student killed at Sox celebration UNION-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES May 3, 2005 The city of Boston paid $5.1 million yesterday to the parents of a college student who was killed by a pepper-spray pellet fired by police trying to subdue a riot among Red Sox fans outside Fenway Park after Boston's playoff win over the New York Yankees last fall. Victoria Snelgrove, a 21-year-old Emerson College senior, died hours after she was hit in the eye socket with the projectile Oct. 21 after Boston beat the Yankees for the American League pennant. "I am hopeful the settlement recognizes the tremendous loss to them and represents our acceptance in the role the police played in that tragedy," Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said. O'Toole said Snelgrove was an innocent bystander and had not "engaged in any activity that would have led police to think that she was behaving unlawfully." Patrick Jones, the Snelgrove's family lawyer, said that acknowledgment was the most important aspect of the settlement to her family. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-fan-death-settlement,0,660421.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines Boston Pays $5.1M to Dead Sox Fan's Family By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press Writer May 3, 2005, 4:04 AM EDT BOSTON -- Victoria Snelgrove wanted it all: To be a successful broadcast journalist and to meet her "Prince Charming" and start a family. "I'm still young. I still have time," she said on a videotape she recorded in her bedroom. Less than a year later, those hopes were cut short when Snelgrove was killed by police trying to subdue rioters after the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant last fall. On Monday, the city paid a $5.1 million settlement to Snelgrove's parents. It is believed to be the largest settlement in the city's history. Snelgrove, an Emerson College senior from East Bridgewater, was hit in the eye socket with a pepper-spray pellet fired by a police officer outside Fenway Park on Oct. 21 after Boston eliminated the New York Yankees. "I can't even imagine the pain the Snelgrove family has felt and will continue to feel," Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said. "There is no amount of money that can relieve that pain, I'm sure." Snelgrove's parents, Richard and Dianne Snelgrove, and her brother, Michael, spoke at length about her death on a DVD their attorney gave to reporters Monday. "She was the light of our life," her mother said. "When she died, the light went out." Richard Snelgrove recalled witnessing the last 12 hours of his daughter's life, after she lapsed into a coma. The family kept a bedside vigil in the hospital and watched her slowly "fade away," he said. "I would hold her hand and there was just no movement," he said. "We stayed there until the last few moments. It was absolutely the most horrific time of our life." Shortly after his daughter died, Richard Snelgrove discovered the videotape she recorded, apparently for a class project. Sitting on her bed, Victoria Snelgrove recalls feeling that she lived in a "bubble" until an aunt died after a short battle with brain cancer. "Our lives were so good and we haven't been in touch with any tragedy or anything," she said. "That's one of my hugest fears -- that in a second my life or somebody close to me's life could just be taken away." The DVD ends with a montage of family photos, including one her best friend Kaitlyn Sachetta snapped just minutes before Snelgrove's death. "It just kind of shows what a great time we were having and how happy she was that the Red Sox had finally won and beat the Yankees," Sachetta said on the DVD. Another friend, Kristen Daniels, said Snelgrove dreamed of appearing as an anchor on the "E!" entertainment television network and was looking forward to spending a semester in Los Angeles. "Torie always knew what she wanted in life," Daniels said. "She had her goals set. She was going to achieve it." Richard Snelgrove said he will cherish the memory of their morning routine, when he would kiss his daughter on her forehead before he headed off to work. "It was such a little thing, but I will miss it," he said, his voice wavering. On Monday, O'Toole said Snelgrove was an innocent bystander and had not "engaged in any activity that would have led police to think that she was behaving unlawfully." Patrick Jones, the Snelgrove's family lawyer, said that acknowledgment was the most important aspect of the settlement to her family. Besides the Boston Police Department's internal review, two independent investigations are under way. The police commissioner also named a special outside panel to look into the shooting and police policies. Prosecutors are looking into whether criminal charges are warranted against the officers who fired the pepper pellet weapons. O'Toole said investigators also are trying to determine if the weapon malfunctioned. Two other people were injured when they were hit in the face by the pellets, which are fired from compressed-air weapons. A deputy superintendent who was in charge of operations around Fenway Park that night and fired one of the weapons, announced his retirement from the force Monday. http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=81369 She thought cops would keep her safe: Hub settles Snelgrove suit for $5.1M By Michele McPhee and Dave Wedge Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - Updated: 09:58 AM EST Victoria Snelgrove was seeking safety within a ring of Boston cops when she ended up in their line of fire during a wild celebration of Red Sox fans outside Fenway Park last year, her family's lawyer said yesterday. New details of the 21-year-old Emerson College student's final moments emerged yesterday as the city announced a $5.1 million settlement with her family over her fatal shooting by police wielding pepper pellet rifles. ``She thought she was relatively safe, there were a lot of police around,'' Snelgrove family lawyer Patrick T. Jones said. Snelgrove and her close friend Kaitlyn Sachetta had been at a bar and were celebrating the win, pumping their fists with the crowd. ``She was so happy,'' Sachetta said about her friend. But the crowd turned ugly and Jones said the women were ``blocked by a crowd from her car in a place where she and her friends felt they were the safest: in the presence of police, not in any way part of any rioting crowd.'' Yesterday was an emotion-charged day for both the young woman's family and police, as the settlement was announced and the veteran Boston Police commander who led special-ops police the night Snelgrove died retired under pressure. ``I will have to live with this that we tried to do the right thing for the right reasons and have a tragic, tragic result,'' saidDeputy Superintendent Robert E. O'Toole. Meanwhile, Snelgrove's heartbroken father, Richard, wept as he remembered how he would plant ``butterfly kisses'' on ``Torie's'' forehead and tell her, ``I love you.'' ``I miss it. It was such a little thing, but I miss it,'' he said in a recorded statement. O'Toole headed the Special Operations unit, an elite squad whose fire from a ``less lethal'' FN-303 pellet gun killed Snelgrove and injured two others on Oct. 21, minutes after the Red Sox won Game 7 of the ALCS over the Yankees. O'Toole has been criticized for firing the weapon himself without proper certification, and for not demanding his cops be fully trained in using the gun, part of a crowd-control arsenal given to the BPD to prepare for the Democratic National Convention. An internal report on the case prepared by BPD detectives ``hammered O'Toole,'' saying his men fired more than 150 pellets, a source said, adding the report describes O'Toole as not having slept the night before the shooting after traveling from St. Louis. The report is now being reviewed by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley. His spokesman, David Procopio, said, ``We're reviewing the report to decide whether the officers' use of force was within the law.'' O'Toole, 59, defended his actions, saying he will not allow others to judge his 37 years of service by an incident that took place over ``five, 10 or 15 seconds.'' ``If anybody in their right mind thinks that Bob O'Toole or any of the officers involved that night sleep well at night or don't think of it every day, then those people are foolish,'' he said. The Snelgroves' lawyer and police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole announced the settlement, the largest in Boston's history, at BPD headquarters. The commissioner called Snelgrove an ``innocent bystander'' and said some questions remain unanswered. ``Of course, no amount of money can compensate the Snelgroves for the untimely loss of their daughter,'' she said. ``I am hopeful the settlement recognizes the tremendous loss to them and represents our acceptance in the role the police played in that tragedy.'' Under the settlement, the city will cooperate with the Snelgrove family if the family decides to sue gunmaker FN Herstal. If the suit is successful, the family agrees to repay the city up to $2 million. http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2005/05/03/news/news/news01.txt East Bridgewater townspeople respond to the Snelgrove settlement By Jennifer Kovalich, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER EAST BRIDGEWATER Watching a Little League game at the Bedford Street Field Monday evening, Karen Leavitt's brown eyes filled with sadness as she learned a settlement had been reached in the death of Victoria Snelgrove, who was attending her alma mater. "I'm glad they got something, but nothing can replace the fact that they lost their daughter," Leavitt, an Emerson College graduate, said. "I just think it was a horrible, misfortunate accident. She clearly wasn't involved, just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Leavitt said. "I just feel horrible for the family." Folks in this close-knit town of 13,000 residents were surprised a settlement was reached so soon and said they were still angered over what happened to "Torie," as Snelgrove was known. Townspeople said they hope a scholarship in Snelgrove's name set up under the settlement will bring some good from the tragedy that took her young life. "It's a great thing that they're doing," Julie Francoeur said of the scholarship fund. The City of Boston will assist with a public memorial to Snelgrove and contribute $100,000 to the scholarship fund, Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said Monday. Snelgrove family attorney Patrick Jones, of CM Jones in Boston, said the scholarship fund is through The Community Bank in Bridgewater. "They intend to use the funds contributed there to assist people coming out of high school going to college," Jones said. Some residents in town said that while they are happy for the Snelgrove family that a settlement was reached, they did not feel $5 million was enough. "You can't put a price on a loss of life, especially someone so young and talented as she was," said a woman at Harmony Liquors on Route 18 who only identified herself as Shirley. She said she did not think Deputy Police Superintendent Robert E. O'Toole, who was in charge the night Snelgrove died and who fired one of the weapons, should be stepping down from his position and taking retirement. Instead she would have preferred to see more sanctions taken against him and other officers perhaps, and a closer look at how O'Toole delegated his responsibilities that night. An independent commission is writing its report on its investigation into the incident. Debbie Taylor, who was also watching the game at the Bedford Street Field, agreed. "His resignation is not going to solve anything," Taylor said. Police Commissioner O'Toole, no relation to Robert E. O'Toole, said Monday the department's investigation showed Victoria Snelgrove was an innocent bystander. "Torie was not the target of any police action, nor was she engaged in any activity that would have led police to think that she was behaving unlawfully," O'Toole said. That admission from police was something that needed to be said, residents said. "I think that was very important for the family that everybody understood she wasn't part of the behavior that was going on," said a woman at the Bedford Street Field who identified herself as E. Curran. Taylor said despite the settlement, she hopes Boston police will find another way to deal with rowdy sports crowds. "There has got to be a better way of calming these college students," she said. As residents reacted to news of the settlement, the Snelgrove family remained in seclusion at their house Monday evening. A police detail was stationed outside their Washington Street home to keep the media away. Torie Snelgrove left her mark on East Bridgewater High School as the "best dressed" member of her class. She was a 2001 graduate of the school and had played field hockey, track and tennis teams and was active in the drama club and key club. She attended Fitchburg State College before transferring to Emerson College to continue her studies in broadcast journalism. She also enjoyed music and photography, playing the piano, and was an avid horseback rider. Her friend Kristen Daniels talks on a DVD released through the family attorney about Snelgrove's determination to reach her goal. "Torie always knew what she wanted," Daniels says. "She had her goals set, and she was going to achieve it." Lisa Roberts, Snelgrove's field hockey coach at East Bridgewater High School, said she liked the idea of her student's name living on, helping others. "I think that's one of the most productive ways to keep someone's memory alive," Roberts said. "She was just a really nice, nice girl, very cooperative, one of those kids willing to do whatever you asked her to do. She was a good kid." Roberts said such the scholarship will be an honor for any student to receive. "I think only good can come from it," she said. Jennifer Kovalich can be reached at jkovalich@enterprisenews.com.