Girl dies from less than lethal weapon.

[Muzikman]

I'd still rather them be using an FN303 or tippmann than a rubber bullet or beanbag round.

[justjoshin590]

I'd still rather them be using an FN303 or tippmann than a rubber bullet or beanbag round.

ehe.... very true, but still these things are dangerous, after all less lethal, doesnt mean safe

[Muzikman]

Correct, I agree 100% with that. But I don't blame anyone for this. it was an accident and they happen, especially when you have morons throwing bottles at cops, setting fires, starting fights, etc.

[Lohman446]

. I just think that the officer believed that he and his fellow officers were under attack, and made a spur of the moment decision, which, unfortunatly was not the right decision, as the BPD has accepted full responsibility for the shooting.

I agree this is a tragedy, and I agree with that.

Think of it from teh officers shoes.. who I pity with the victim, because he knows the outcome of his action.

You are a well identified group trying to maintain order of a group severely larger than you. You know that if things really go wrong you may end up being a target. You represent authority, but do not have the means to control the entire crowd before you. There is a pop of a bottle hitting the ground near you or one of your comrades, whether it is accidental or not do you ahve the time to wait and see. Your reaction is to turn, and escalate the force to try to disperse the crowd quickly, before things get out of hand. You spin and fire... now in this situation I would rather the police have a means other than a gun. This is a tragedy, but had the officer not had another weapon, would he have spun and fired live "real" rounds into the crowd?

[Steelrat]

i think the real problem here is that police are being trained with these weapons improperly, they beleive that these weapons are completely safe, they think just because they dont usually kill that they can be used without danger, but pepper balls and such should ONLY be used when absolutley necesary as in, just short of when they would need to use a real gun, there was NO reason that the cop should of fired, it was a stupid and pointless waste of life, caused be some trigger happy cop, yell at me all you want but there was no reason for this to happen

and this wasnt a paintball death, have you ever played paintball with no mask while shooting pepperballs?

If it wasnt a pepperball, it would be beanbags, a water cannon, or riot shields and sticks. Riots have to be broken up, and harsh language doesnt do it.

If anyone learns something from this tragedy, it should be that when you see a riot, get as far away as possible from it. Its not a spectator event, its a potentially deadly situation.

[justjoshin590]

i know i know i know...... but no matter how many times someone says it, i still say it could of been prevented, and i know hindsight is 20/20, but it isnt needed, paintball guns are just that, GUNS the cop that pulled the trigger thought nothing of it, he was doing his job, not true, if he was a riot control officer he should of done that fine, but there wasnt exactely a riot yet, one broken bear bottle "omg its a bear bottle" big deal i think theres a hell of a lot more than one beer bottle droped on the ground in boston every day, and it doesnt get anyone killed, if I was the cop that did this, i tell you right now i would never put on my badge again, this officer acted without thought, and for it i doubt he will ever pay a consequence, and even if he does it will never be as bad as what happened to that girl, i dont want this guy protecting me, and dont tell we what i would of done, cause it is by no means this, their are so many things the cop could of done... he wouldnt of fired into the crowd, he should of backed off
and as for the bottle, i reaaaaally hope this cop never works in boston on st particks day....
and dont insult the sport of paintball by calling this a paintball fatality, gun violence isnt the result of competative shooting...

[the larch]

I've been around riots before (not on purpose). I've never had a problem going away from them when idiots start acting dumb. An hour and a half after the end of the game, anyone who was caught in the middle of this chose to be there. If you stand around in a potential war zone, there is a great chance you will catch a stray bullet. As far as her being paralyzed with fear? horse patootie, how many 21 year old journalism students do you think get paralyzed with fear when witnessing a riot?
Expecting anyone to take aimed shots with a paintball style marker in a situation like that is pretty silly. If you look at that gruesome picture, you may notice that the young lady wasn't that tall. Have you ever considered that the officer may have been pointing at what he saw to be chest level of several six foot tall college guys and she was in with them?
Police officers have every right to defend themselves when having bottles thrown at them.
Unlike the poor young lady, this officer was where he was supposed to be doing what he was supposed to do. He will have to live with what has happened for the rest of his life.

Also, there was only one bottle "reported" thrown. That does not address what the actual situation may have been. A beer bottle can be quite a deadly projectile btw. Exactly how many of them should the officer allow to be thrown at him before he responds? 3? 4?. How violent does the crowd have to get before he should be allowed to assure his safety? How many vehicles destroyed? How many store fronts knocked out?
Let me tell you something, if you are outnumbered 100 to one and ONE beer bottle gets thrown at you, you HAVE to respond instantly and overwhelmingly, our you may not go home to your family.
I cannot believe that anyone would actually discredit the officer for this instead of the several thousand drunken and violent people who caused this to happen.

[Lohman446]

i know i know i know...... but no matter how many times someone says it, i still say it could of been prevented, and i know hindsight is 20/20, but it isnt needed, paintball guns are just that, GUNS the cop that pulled the trigger thought nothing of it, he was doing his job, not true, if he was a riot control officer he should of done that fine, but there wasnt exactely a riot yet, one broken bear bottle "omg its a bear bottle" big deal i think theres a hell of a lot more than one beer bottle droped on the ground in boston every day, and it doesnt get anyone killed, if I was the cop that did this, i tell you right now i would never put on my badge again, this officer acted without thought, and for it i doubt he will ever pay a consequence, and even if he does it will never be as bad as what happened to that girl, i dont want this guy protecting me, and dont tell we what i would of done, cause it is by no means this, their are so many things the cop could of done... should of done
...

I'm going to disagree with you - again read my above post. But the officer may have been looking to remove a problem which that bottle looked to him to be escalating (Im guessing). It was likely on training, it was not this mve that noone can find the justification for. This bottle was not dropped, at least in his perception it was thrown at him or a fellow officer. He acted accordingly. Was he wrong, it is very possible, in fact I wager likely, but his actions were not this thoughtless thing you might think they are. Disagree with people... you are often right to do so, but if you fail to see the motivation behind there argument, reasoning, or actions you will fail to learn a lot. Understanding why teaches you things, even if you do not agree with it.

He did not fire something with the intent to kill someone - I think this may be a fault in reasoning. The logic of my pistol is if I draw it it is to use it, and if I use it it is not with any less of an intent to kill someone. This "less lethal" or whatever you choose to call them weapons are not used in this way. The officers are trained to use them as an alternative to deadly force. And while I am glad they are not using deadlier weapons, I think perhaps we need to reevaluate there use. I would expect this officer was within the guidelines set forth by the BPD - or close enough to them that his judgement was understandable.

Edit: as to the lack of consequence.. I doubt many people who deal with "justifiable" shootings on a mental health professional basis would agree with you to the lack of consequances.

[Pickle]

The Supreme Court has ruled in instances like these that judgements needs to be based on facts known at the time. To all you anti-cop naysayers: Where do you get your magical knowledge of what was going through the police officer's mind? How do you know facts that no one else seems to know?

Get a grip!
Get some facts and then come back to argue your points.

[justjoshin590]

like i said, thats what i would of done, i have no idea what was going on in his head, and my main problm is that the police used pepper balls as if they were harmless, when i say they should only be used when absolutely necesary, as a alternative to the officers sidearm

[Pickle]

and my main problm is that the police used pepper balls as if they were harmless, when i say they should only be used when absolutely necesary, as a alternative to the officers sidearm

You know for a fact that is how the police used them? You were there? I know of no agency that trains their officers to treat pepperball guns or ANY less lethal weapon as harmless. That is pure supposition and fiction on your part.

when i say they should only be used when absolutely necesary, as a alternative to the officers sidearm

They are not necessarily an alternative as much as they are another tool that can be used. Pepperball guns and FN303's have been in use for a while. This is the first "possible" death from them. I use quotes because it hasn't been determined if the head injury was from the ground or another object. Yes, we know she was hit in the head with a less lethal round but we DO NOT know if that projectile caused her death.

[LudavicoSoldier]

That aint all folks! Here is an article including pics regarding a couple other fans who got shot in the face/head by the BPD.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/10/25/man_says_police_pellets_hit_him_2_others/

[Rhinopkc]

The problem I see with less lethal weapons is that it seems like some officers are a little quicker on the trigger with them because they aren't as likely to kill someone. It appears that the luancher was being used as an area weapon, instead of being fired at the person who threw the bottle, if the cop had chosen a specific target, there would have been a much lower chance of someone getting killed.

[rkjunior303]

OUCH!!!

[SlartyBartFast]

A small group of protesters on the street before the game drew attention before the game with signs reading, "Don't shoot our kids." The two dozen activists are mounting a campaign to have the type of pepper-pellet guns that killed Snelgrove and injured Gately banned from use.

What a bunch of knee-jerk reactionary idiots. There's probably some re-training to do and some tightening up of the rules of engagement. But what would these morons prefer? That the Cops start using their handguns and shotguns?