Boston Considers Banning Baseball Broadcast In Bars

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he was considering asking bars and restaurants not to broadcast the World Series after celebrations of the Red Sox's league championship turned deadly when a police officer shot a projectile into a crowd.

Menino planned to meet with bar and nightclub owners on Friday, and also said he would press universities to expel students found guilty of criminal conduct in the melee.

"Since people won't accept responsibility, I, as mayor, will take it into my own hands," Menino said in a statement.

Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove, 21, died on Thursday, hours after being hit in the eye with what was designed to be a non-lethal projectile that douses the target with a pepper-like spray.

Snelgrove was reportedly standing outside the Fenway Park, the Red Sox home, when someone threw a bottle at a mounted police officer. Another officer fired the plastic, pepper-spray-filled balls into the crowd, hitting Snelgrove.

Fifteen other people, including a police officer, suffered minor injuries in Boston's Kenmore Square neighborhood near the ballpark after thousands of baseball fans spilled onto the streets to celebrate the Red Sox triumph on Wednesday night at New York's Yankee Stadium. Small fires were set, and fights broke out. Boston police reported eight arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct.

advertisement

advertisement

Menino said that to avoid a repeat of the rowdiness, he was considering imposing the alcohol-sales ban through a state law never before used in Boston. The law allows him to ban the sale or distribution of alcohol "in cases of riot or great public excitement."

He said he may also ask bar and restaurant operators not to allow television stations to broadcast live scenes from inside their establishments during games.

Fox will begin broadcasting the World Series on Saturday.

A Fox spokesperson had no comment on the mayor's consideration of banning the broadcast in bars and restaurants.

Next story loading loading..