Foxborough Police Put Over 500 in Custody at Country Fest

(NECN: Eileen Curran, Foxborough, Mass.) - The concert was over before it began for hundreds of people at this year’s Country Fest at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Police put more than 500 people, suspected of drinking too much, into protective custody. One young woman who was among those held said police were overzealous in their efforts.

“I had been drinking, but I wasn't planning on driving (and) I wasn't falling over," said Alyssa Minchella, 22, of Medford, Mass.

Minchella said she had had only three drinks while tailgating with friends hours before the big Country Fest concert Friday night. She said she had just gone through the front gate and went to use the restroom, when police took her into custody.

“Police officers came into the bathroom, male officers,” she said. “They told me I had been in there too long. I said I had just walked in here I think you're mistaken. They opened the stall, walked in, I said let me finish. I’ll walk outside.”

Minchella says she spent the next eight and a half hours handcuffed in various chain link pens at Gillette and also outside the police station. She said she requested a breathalyzer and never got one. She said she requested to make a phone call and wasn't allowed to until 2:30 the next morning.

Foxborough police took hundreds of people into custody over the course of the two day festival, putting them in fenced off areas and taking away their personal items.

They’ve been cracking down on excessive and underage drinking at the concert, after two young women were killed in a car crash after tailgating at the festival four years ago.

“Every time I look at pictures it's so hard,” said MaryAnn Davis, holding a picture of her daughter, Debra, one of the two girls killed in the drunk driving crash.

“We kissed and hugged and I never saw her again.”

Davis and her family have been fighting for change. She commends the police chief and the town for their efforts and said kids need to realize this is for their own good.

“They'd realize it was for their own protection. It's a good thing because they could be where my daughter is today,” she said.

Minchella understands the need to protect overly drunk people, but insists she wasn’t one of them. She said police were overzealous at the concert.

“There were some girls in the corner puking, but there was a very drastic difference between who should be there and who shouldn't,” she said.

Minchella said she is going to sue for false imprisonment. Foxborough Police Chief Edward O’Leary was out of town and unavailable for comment.