A Massachusetts State Police trooper was temporarily stripped of his gun and placed on restricted duty after being arrested outside the Xfinity Center last week.
The NBC10 Boston Investigators have learned that Trooper Christopher B. Lenney was charged Aug. 1 with trespassing at the venue, which hosted a performance that night by heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
According to court records, a parking attendant alerted Mansfield police to an argument unfolding between two groups in the limousine area of the parking lot. Officers observed a man -- later identified as Lenney -- having a heated argument with a woman about her job and her work with disabled veterans, according to a police report. After officers separated the groups, Lenney was allegedly heard yelling an expletive at the woman, prompting officers to ask him to enter or leave the grounds.
According to police, Lenney initially ignored their instructions and refused to show his identification. He allegedly continued to accost the woman, shouting derogatory names and holding up both middle fingers in her direction.
Security personnel from the Xfinity Center eventually asked Mansfield police for assistance removing Lenney from the premises. Officers allege he ignored the request and headed toward the main entrance, prompting them to lead him into a police compound area.
Once inside, Lenney told officers he was a trooper assigned to the Leominster barracks, and showed them his state police identification, according to a police report. He then left the area, but allegedly later returned, wearing his shirt inside out.
"At this time, Lenney had turned his shirt inside out so that he no longer had any visible markings on his shirt in an attempt to change his appearance," the police report reads. "He also placed his sunglasses on the back of his neck which was different from how he was wearing them during our previous interactions."
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Police arrested Lenney and transported him to the Mansfield Police Department to be booked on a trespassing charge.
Responding to questions from NBC10 Boston earlier this week, state police spokesman David Procopio wrote in an email that police relieved Lenney of duty for five days immediately following the arrest and later placed him on restricted duty following a duty status hearing. Lenney was ordered to turn in his gun, cruiser and other equipment, and was assigned a desk job with no contact with the public pending the results of his court case and an internal investigation, according to Procopio.
"The duty status change generally lasts for the duration of any judicial and internal proceedings, at the conclusion of which the member's duty status is re-evaluated," he wrote.
Lenney was due to be arraigned Aug. 2 in Attleboro District Court. His case was continued while he seeks to have the matter referred to a diversion program for veterans. The move came over the objection of prosecutors, according to paperwork filed in court. He is next due to appear in court in October.
