Boston Police, Pepper Rifles, and Homicide

The Stern Report spreads around the blame for Victoria Snelgrove's death at the hands of Boston Police last year, but I'd like to reiterate my opinion on two points I've made here before: Robert O'Toole was a hothead who shouldn't have been in that supervisory position that night; and the FN303 is a deadly force weapon that should not be used in crowd control.  Here's the understatement of year, from the report as quoted in the Herald:

"The outcomes here - three shots to the head, one resulting in death and two resulting in penetration - seem inconsistent with the manufactures' representations that the projectiles will not penetrate the skin," the report said. [sic]

Comments

[theautoprophet]

A projectile weapon of ANY type should NEVER be fired at someone's head. Even a "nonlethal" rubber bullet could cause very serious damage if it hit someone's eye.

The police, BTW, are trained to shoot for center of mass.