Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Richard J. Hill and his wife were arrested last Saturday outside Gillette Stadium ahead of a game between the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills , a report says.
The Foxborough police reported that the MLB player and his wife were arrested after they tried to bring a large bag into the stadium and refused to allow security to check it. They reportedly became belligerent, and when asked to leave the stadium, they refused, according to the Boston Globe.
A police report says that the former player was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest when he tried to stop officers from placing his wife in a squad car. Hill’s wife was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing charges.
The incident was apparently sparked by Hill’s wife, Caitlin, who reportedly tried to bring the oversized bag into the stadium past security at more than one gate but was refused each time. Then, the player became enraged when she was being detained outside the park.
“He saw her as they were trying to get her into a van to bring to the police station, and he started to interfere with the officers,” police spokesman Robert Bolger said of Hill’s actions when he saw his wife being arrested. “He was told several times to back up, and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”
The couple was arraigned on Monday morning, but the criminal charges were quickly reduced to civil infractions by Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office. Caitlin was fined $250, and her husband was hit with a $500 fine.
Morrissey’s office added that there was no special treatment, and these sorts of charges are often reduced to civil infractions in the “interests of justice.”
The Hill’s attorney, Francis T. O’Brien, called the incident “unfortunate,” but praised the justice system for reducing the charges.
“Commendably, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office recognized this, and the matter was appropriately resolved as a civil, non-criminal, infraction,” O’Brien told the media. “This was a fair and proper resolution, and the matter is closed.”
Hill released a statement explaining that he is still supportive of law enforcement, but that seeing his wife being arrested was hard to take.
“Seeing my wife handcuffed for a problem that started because of her fanny pack was extremely difficult for me to witness,” Hill said in his statement. “This was all overblown, and we are glad to have it behind us.”
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