BOSTON (CelebrityAccess) — A civil rights lawsuit against filed against the town of Foxboro and its police department over protective custody detentions at Gillette Stadium has begun.
The suit, originally filed by two Maine residents – Timothy Dutton and Paul Weldner – may have a far-reaching impact on venue security. In the suit, the litigants allege that police violated their constitutional rights after they were placed in protective custody while trying to enter the stadium for a Bruce Springsteen concert in 2012.
The two men are some of the hundreds of fans who have been put into protective custody at the stadium in recent years, mostly for intoxication. Massachusetts state law allows police to put people into protective custody if they are deemed unconscious, needing medical attention, disorderly, or likely to cause physical harm to themselves, others or damage property.
The plaintiffs claim that they fit into none of these categories and claim that they were unfairly humiliated and intimidated by the detention.
The suit alleges that more than 3,000 fans were detained in a similar manner between 2009 and 2012, and was initially expected to be a class action, however, only three plaintiffs have come forward.
Opening arguments in the case began earlier this week.
