Thread by @KFFHealthNews

#NewOnKHN: Time and again over the past two decades, peace officers have targeted civilian demonstrators with munitions designed to stun and stop, rather than kill. KHN/@USATODAY

📝:@DonovanSlack/ @azrover/ @jayhancock1/ @kmccoynyc
🔗: khn.org/MTEzNzcwNg

While locations and demonstration types vary, a pattern has emerged: Shooting victims file lawsuits, cities pay out millions of dollars, police departments try to adopt reforms. And, a few years later, it happens again.

Among the shooting victims was Victoria Snelgrove. Snelgrove was leaning against a railing of a parking garage at Fenway Park, when the Boston police fired the projectile that tore through her eye and into her brain.

The family collected $5 million in damages — reportedly the city’s largest settlement in history at the time. Snelgrove’s death spurred Boston police to convene a panel to figure out what went wrong.

Among the commission’s findings: Boston had acquired its launchers less than a year earlier, without an adequate understanding of safety issues. The manufacturer had suggested rounds would not break the skin. KHN/@USATODAY
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…