BOSTON (AP) – The city paid $5.1 million Monday to the parents of a college student who was killed by a pepper-spray pellet fired by police trying to quell rioters after the Boston Red Sox won the pennant last fall.

Victoria Snelgrove, a 21-year-old Emerson College senior, died hours after she was hit in the eye socket with the projectile outside Fenway Park on Oct. 21. The crowd was celebrating Boston’s victory over the New York Yankees.

“I am hopeful the settlement recognizes the tremendous loss to them and represents our acceptance in the role the police played in that tragedy,” said Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole.

O’Toole said Snelgrove was an innocent bystander and had not “engaged in any activity that would have led police to think that she was behaving unlawfully.”

Patrick Jones, the Snelgroves’ lawyer, said that acknowledgment was the most important aspect of the settlement to her family.

Deputy Superintendent Robert O’Toole, who was in charge of operations around Fenway that night, will retire from the force, the commissioner said. The two are not related.

Robert O’Toole authorized the use of the pellet guns and fired one of the weapons that night. Another officer fired the fatal shot, investigators found.

The district attorney’s office is still looking into whether criminal charges are warranted against the officers who fired the weapons.

The commissioner has also named a special outside panel, headed by a former federal prosecutor, to look into the shooting and police policies.

The commissioner said investigators are trying to determine if the weapon malfunctioned, and the settlement calls for the Snelgrove family to cooperate with the city in any legal action taken against the manufacturer. The family would then share in the proceeds of any damages recovered.