> At what other point in history has police distributed a completly illegal tool onto unsuspected and non-targeted civilians?
It might be a stretch but..
"LSD was one of the materials tested in the MKUltra program. The final phase of LSD testing involved surreptitious administration to unwitting non-volunteer subjects in normal life settings by undercover officers of the Bureau of Narcotics acting for the CIA." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
Thank you. It was a covert human research operation experiment rather than police enforcement, but it still bear some meaning on this issue. The government offered one victims family an out-of-court settlement of $750,000.
If the government release a virus and it cause damages, government might be found liable. Still, an out-of-court settlement is not exactly a predicate, so its hard to know what would happen.
It might be a stretch but..
"LSD was one of the materials tested in the MKUltra program. The final phase of LSD testing involved surreptitious administration to unwitting non-volunteer subjects in normal life settings by undercover officers of the Bureau of Narcotics acting for the CIA." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra