The Associated Press
BOSTON- The officer who fired the pepper-spray pellet that killed a Red Sox fan outside Fenway Park was aiming at a man who had been throwing objects at police, according to his interview with authorities.
“I decided that, you know, I mean, I had a clear shot, so I took it,” Officer Rochefort Milien told detectives, recounting events leading up to the death of 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove outside Fenway Park last fall.
The transcript, taken two days after the shooting, was among hundreds of documents, photographs and video clips given to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley and reviewed by The Boston Globe. It was the first time Milien’s account was made public.
Milien said in his interview that he did not fire in Snelgrove’s direction, but video evidence included with the transcript shows he was the only officer in the vicinity with a pellet gun and that he fired two shots in her direction.
Milien said he saw a man ducking in and out of the crowd, and that the man had thrown bottles at officers. The man later disappeared into the crowd and Milien heard screams.
“I observed a female, a white female, you know, laying on the ground,” he said.
The pellet pierced Snelgrove’s left eye, opened a three-quarter inch hole in the bone behind it, broke into nine pieces and damaged the right side of her brain, according to an autopsy report included in the documents.
Prosecutors determined last week that no criminal charges would be filed against the police officers involved in the October shooting, the night the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant against the New York Yankees.
Police said some of the revelers were throwing bottles, lighting fires and wrecking cars. Snelgrove was not involved in the rioting.
An independent commission concluded that police made a series of mistakes leading to Snelgrove’s death. The city paid her family a $5.1 million settlement in May, and the family has filed a $10 million suit against the gun maker.
The officers were all either suspended, demoted or reprimanded, including Milien, who was suspended for 90 days.