Pitcher, wife arrested for alleged misconduct

Free-agent pitcher Rich Hill was arrested and fined, along with his wife, following an exchange with the police on Saturday before a New England Patriots home game against the Buffalo Bills, the Boston Globe reported Monday.

The incident began when Hill’s wife, Caitlin, tried to bring an oversized bag into Gillette Stadium, according to Foxborough (Mass.) Police chief administrator Robert Bolger, via the Globe.

Making several attempts to take the bag to a different gate, then refusing to leave the grounds after being ordered to do so, she was arrested on disorderly conduct and trespassing charges.

After Rich Hill tried to prevent authorities from putting his wife in a prisoner transport vehicle, he was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to police.

“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,” Bolger said in the Globe. “He was told several times to back up, and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”

The Norfolk district attorney’s office changed the charges to civil infractions on Monday, and Hill and his wife must each pay US$500 fines, spokesman for the district attorney indicated. Rich Hill’s felony charge of resisting arrest was dismissed prior to arraignment by the Norfolk district attorney’s office.

Hill, a 39-year-old lefthander who made just 13 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 due to injuries, underwent elbow surgery following the season and could miss half the 2020 season, he previously indicated. He underwent a procedure known as “primary revision” to repair a reinjury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm. Hill had Tommy John surgery in 2011.