Police to scrap pepper guns

The pepper pellet gun blamed for the death of Emerson student Victoria Snelgrove during a raucous Red Sox celebration near Fenway Park 28 months ago will never again be used by Boston police, a department spokeswoman said last night.

Elaine Driscoll said Commissioner Ed Davis made the pronouncement this week during an editorial meeting with a local newspaper.

All 13 of the city's weapons were awaiting destruction at a factory, where they will be melted down into sewer caps, Driscoll said.

The department purchased the FN303 Less Lethal Launchers for crowd control before the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston. They have not been used since a pepper pellet fatally struck the 21-year-old journalism student in the eye during a rowdy celebration of the Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees, which set up the team's improbable entry into the World Series.

Two others were wounded in the face.

An independent panel concluded in 2005 that Snelgrove's death was an avoidable tragedy that was caused by poor planning and "serious errors in judgment" by Boston police officers and commanders. The panel found that officers fired the pellet guns indiscriminately into the crowd.

Two officers were suspended for 45 days. Other officers involved in the case received demotions and written reprimands.

The panel also recommended that national testing and standards be established for the use of all so-called less-lethal weapons.

After the shooting, the police department had shelved the weapons.

Snelgrove's death also led to a renewed push for some form of civilian review to monitor police activity.

Last month, Mayor Thomas M. Menino appointed a law school dean, a former law school dean, and a former state Parole Board member to a three-member civilian board that will review citizen complaints of Boston police misconduct.

The City of Boston ultimately reached a $5 million settlement with the Snelgrove family, the largest wrongful death settlement in city history.

Last year, the city recouped less than 10 percent of that settlement ($438,500) after the Snelgrove family settled its suit against FN Herstal, maker of the weapon, according to documents obtained by the Globe through a public records request.

The family's lawyer declined then to say how much the Snelgroves received from the manufacturer.