AMHERST – Mild weather, two concerts at the Mullins Center and the three-day Patriots’ Day holiday weekend prompted a number of police and medical calls.
Even though police responded to several large gatherings, including traditional problem areas including Townehouse Apartments and Hobart Lane, this is fairly typical for springtime, Amherst Police Capt. Jennifer Gundersen said in an email.
“The weekend level of activity, calls for service and custody counts was normal for spring weekend,” Gundersen said.
Around 2,000 people gathered on Hobart Lane Sunday afternoon in advance of the spring concert at the Mullins featuring Fetty Wap, Tinashe and Logic. Police said the large number of people prompted the arrest of Joseph Anthony Bortolussi, 20, of Feeding Hills, Emma C. Leombruno, 20, of Lakeville, and Nathan Maxwell Tagliaferro, 19, of Medway, between 5 and 6:17 p.m., on charges of disorderly conduct. Bortolussi was also arrested on a charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol, while Tagliaferro was also arrested on a charge of assault, police said.
Gundersen said there was no major disturbance on Hobart and no one was injured.
Police also made arrests and issued criminal summons that could total $4,800 in fines for violations of the town’s noise and nuisance house bylaws.
Police said Hannah Wallace Brassard, 21, of Woburn, Lisa Anne Cardone, 21, of Seaford, New York, Caitlin S. Cooney, 20, of East Sandwich, and Karolina Goncharova, 21, of Waltham, were arrested on the bylaw charges at 287 Grantwood Drive during a police response at 12:25 a.m. Sunday.
Police said four other people will be summoned to court for the offenses after a police response to 83 Morgan Circle at 12:42 a.m. Sunday.
Police broke up a gathering at Townehouse Apartments Saturday afternoon, and had a bonfire extinguished. The college-age people were having a party in one of the lawn areas before the Soulfest concert at the Mullins.
Police arrested or summoned to court an additional 17 people for being minors in possession of alcohol or violating the town’s open container bylaw during the weekend, police said.
Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson said his department had staff at the Mullins for both concerts, along with out-of-town ambulances ready for an influx of patients
“It was nothing we didn’t expect,” Nelson said.
At Soulfest, firefighter/ paramedics saw 21 patients, with five brought to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for treatment of alcohol-related problems.
At the spring concert, there were 30 patients, with eight transported by ambulance to the hospital. Both were in line with estimates based on the number of concertgoers, Nelson said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
