Report: Officer Facing Charge After Hardcore Concert Arrest

December 8, 2006

J.J. Huggins of Sentinel & Enterprise reports that a Leominster, Massachusetts police officer is facing a charge of assault and battery in connection with the arrest of a band member after a brawl at a hardcore/punk concert in August, Police Chief Peter Roddy confirmed Wednesday.

Officer Michael DeLuca is scheduled to be arraigned in Leominster District Court on Dec. 15.

The man who filed the complaint, EVERYTHING TO FEAR bassist Joseph Barrett, 22, of Whitman, said he is doing it because the officer was too forceful while arresting him.

"They used too much force and I didn't do anything wrong, and they just beat me," Barrett said during a phone interview Wednesday.

Roddy has not placed DeLuca on leave because of the charge, and the police chief said he stands behind the officer.

"We had an internal investigation, and to this point, we don't see any excessive force used," Roddy said. "It looks like he was just doing his job."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).