Court Rules Man Can Take Officer Who Placed Him in Protective Custody at Xfinity Center to Trial

MANSFIELD, MA — A man who was placed in protective custody and denied entry into a country concert at the Xfinity Center will have his case against a police officer heard.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled Wednesday that the police officer who took Peter Alfano into protective custody does not have qualified immunity, ruling in favor of Alfano. The decision reverses a ruling made in Federal District Court.

“The doctrine of qualified immunity shields from liability public officials, including police officers, whose conduct does not violate clearly established federal statutory or constitutional rights. It is a strong, but not impenetrable, shield. After careful consideration of the record in this case, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, we conclude that qualified immunity is not available,” Judge Bruce Selya wrote.

On July 11, 2014, Alfano and two friends traveled to the Xfinity Center by bus for a Jason Aldean concert. By Alfano's own admittance, he had six to eight beers on the bus and at a tailgate over a 4-6 hour period but did not feel incapacitated. When the group went to enter the venue, Alfano was taken out of line by security and escorted to a holding area, according to court records.

After security told then-Franklin Lt. Thomas Lynch that Alfano might be incapacitated, the officer had Alfano a field sobriety test. Alfano admitted that he failed the first test, a one-leg stand, but argued that he passed the second and third tests, reciting the alphabet and carrying out a horizontal gaze nystagmus test. After declining a breathalyzer test, Alfano was taken into protective custody and transported to the Mansfield Police Department, where he remained for five hours. Because he took a bus with roundtrip service to the show, Alfano was forced to find an alternative means of transportation home, court records

In July 2015, Alcano sued Lynch in Federal District Court, with the court granting a motion for a summary judgment at the request of Lynch.

State law says a police officer can place a person into protective custody if they are incapacitated, intoxicated, and likely to cause physical harm or damaging property. In their ruling, the appeals court wrote that Lynch may have had probable cause to believe that Alfano was intoxicated, but to think that Alfano was intoxicated alone was not sufficient to warrant a finding of incapacitation.

At the ending of the ruling, the court admitted that the two sides have different accounts of the incident, but that must be resolved in a trial.

Click here to read the full decision.