City aids family in suit against gun maker

The family of a college student killed last October by Boston police who fired a pepper-pellet gun trying to control a crowd outside Fenway Park yesterday filed a lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages from the gun's manufacturer, according to a letter to the company obtained by the Globe.

The City of Boston, which agreed in May to pay a $5 million wrongful death settlement to Victoria Snelgrove's family, is cooperating in the lawsuit and could win half of any award, up to $2 million.

The letter to FN Herstal notifying the manufacturer of the lawsuit accuses the company of misrepresenting the FN303 weapon that killed Snelgrove ''as one that would never cause cranial trauma, and would never perforate the skin."

James Falk Sr., a lawyer for FN Herstal, declined to comment yesterday, saying he had not yet seen a copy of the lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, or the accompanying letter.

In a May interview with the Globe, Falk called Snelgrove's death ''a true tragic accident" and said the company believes the FN303 to be ''both safe and effective when properly used by trained law enforcement officers and military personnel."

The letter sent to Falk by the Snelgroves' attorney, Patrick T. Jones, disputes that contention, saying that in its marketing material, FN Herstal suggested that the projectiles would break apart when they hit someone, which Jones argued led Boston police to believe the ''projectiles are safe and contributed to an attitude by the shooters . . . that they could not cause any serious injury."

After Snelgrove's death, the department pulled the weapons from service. Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole announced yesterday that the department will not use the guns again.

In his letter to FN Herstal, Jones alleges that the fact that pepper pellets fired from the guns penetrated the head of Snelgrove and two other victims proves that ''fragmentation either does not always occur on impact or that the penetration of the skin can occur in some cases even with fragmentation."

Jones also alleges that FN Herstal knew that the Boston Police Department ''relied heavily" on information provided by weapons' manufacturers and should have provided better warnings to the department of the capabilities of the pepper-pellet gun.

''As marketed, designed and sold, the product actually increased the likelihood of injury to innocent bystanders," Jones wrote. ''As a result of these breaches, Victoria Snelgrove suffered severe injuries and death. Her family lost her care, comfort, society and companionship."

Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com.