“She was trying to enter the stadium with an oversized bag and she had been told several times, ‘no,’ “ said Robert Bolger, chief administrator for Foxborough police. “She tried several times to go to a different gate. She was ordered to leave the property.”

When Caitlin Hill refused to leave the grounds of the stadium, she was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, Bolger said. Officers were putting Caitlin Hill into a prisoner transport van for the trip to the Foxborough station for booking when Richard Hill intervened with police, Bolger said.

“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. “He was told several times to back up and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”

Both Hills were arraigned Monday in Wrentham District Court, but the criminal charges against the couple were changed into civil infractions by Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office. Richard Hill’s charge of intimidating a police officer, a felony, was dismissed prior to arraignment by Morrissey’s office in the “interests of justice,” said Morrissey spokesman David Traub.

Caitlin Hill’s two charges were converted into civil infractions and she was ordered to pay a fine of $250 each and Richard Hill was fined $500 for the single count of disorderly conduct he faced, according to Traub, who said it was “not unusual” for Morrissey’s office “to convert disorderly conduct and trespassing charges in that way.”

Hill’s Boston-based attorney, Francis T. O’Brien, called the incident “a terribly unfortunate event that should never have escalated beyond a routine encounter with stadium security.”

“Commendably, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office recognized this and the matter was appropriately resolved as a civil, non criminal, infraction,” he said in an e-mail. “This was a fair and proper resolution and the matter is closed.”

Hill, in a statement, said “Despite Saturday’s events, my great respect for law enforcement remains unchanged.”

“However, seeing my wife handcuffed for a problem that started because of her fanny pack was extremely difficult for me to witness,” he said. “This was all overblown and we are glad to have it behind us.”

Hill, a Milton native, joined the major leagues in 2005 and spent several seasons with the Boston Red Sox. For the past three years, he has played for the Los Angeles Dodgers but is now a free agent working to recover from off-season surgery to his pitching arm.

Hill, who is 39, is slated to receive the 2019 Tony Conigliaro Award at the annual Boston Baseball Writers Dinner Jan. 16 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. The award is given to a “major leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.”

In February, the couple donated $575,000 to support research on rare and undiagnosed genetic diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, a charitable effort they began after losing their son, Brooks Hill, about two months after he was born at MGH on Dec. 26, 2013, the Globe reported.

.

Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated one of the two criminal charges filed against him by Foxborough police. Hill was charged with intimidating a police officer, a felony. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office dismissed the charge before arraignment.

Danny McDonald of Globe staff contributed to this report.

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John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.

Free agent pitcher Rich Hill, who spent the last four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was arrested at the New England Patriots-Buffalo Bills game on Saturday as he and his wife were charged with disorderly conduct. 

Foxborough police told the Boston Globe that Hill’s wife, Caitlin, repeatedly tried to enter Gillette Stadium with an oversized bag. When she was turned away several times and refused to leave the area, police arrested her. That’s when the 15-year MLB veteran intervened. 

“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,’’ Robert Bolger, chief administrator for Foxborough police, told the Globe. “He was told several times to back up and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”

The Hills were both arraigned Monday, when Rich Hill’s charge of resisting arrest was dismissed and he was fined $500 for disorderly conduct. Caitlin Hill had her criminal charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing converted to civil infractions and was fined a total of $500.

“Despite Saturday’s events, my great respect for law enforcement remains unchanged,” Hill said in a statement released by his attorney. “However, seeing my wife handcuffed for a problem that was started because of her fanny pack was extremely difficult for me to witness. This was all overblown and we are glad to have it behind us.”

A native of Milton, Massachusetts, Hill spent three seasons with the Red Sox from 2010-12. He began his career with the Chicago Cubs in 2005 and played for five other teams before the Dodgers acquired him at the 2016 trade deadline.

Hill, 39, has enjoyed his greatest success in his late 30s with the Dodgers, going 30-16 with a 3.16 ERA over 361 1/3 innings. His three-year, $48 million contract expired this offseason, making him a free agent. However, he will miss at least the first half of the 2020 season recovering from elbow surgery in October.

7:17 p.m.: USA Today reports Arizona is weighing Rich Rodriguez’s future

The first report of Rich Rodriguez’s murky future with Arizona came from USA Today columnist Dan Wolken,who released a story on Twitter that the university was thinking of firing Rodriguez even though his contract ran through 2020.

This report came after two anonymous sources told USA Today that school officials hired a third-party law firm last fall to investigate claims that Rodriguez ran a hostile workplace.

The initial report left the university in a questionable state considering the football program dealing with two sexual assault cases in the last year, the men’s basketball team is currently being investigated by the FBI for ex-assistant coach Book Richardson allegedly paying recruits and former UA track and field coach Craig Carter is facing multiple felony charges.

8:35 p.m. Rich Rodriguez fired after $7.5M notice of claim

University of Arizona fires Rich Rodriguez following hostile workplace claim https://t.co/QGcePGxIEe pic.twitter.com/WeEI1wfG13

— Arizona Daily Star (@TucsonStar) January 3, 2018

Rich Rodriguez was fired as Arizona’s head football coach on Tuesday after a $7.5 million notice of claim was filed with the state’s attorney general’s office alleging that Rodriguez ran a hostile workplace and sexually harassed a former employee.

The UA announced his termination in a press release around 8:30 p.m. University president Robert C. Robbins and athletic director Dave Heeke said they will “honor the separation terms” of Rodriguez’s contract — his buyout is about $6 million.

“While this is a difficult decision, it is the right decision,” they wrote. “And it is a decision that lives up to the core values of the University of Arizona.”

The UA is being sued in federal court by one of three victims of former running back Orlando Bradford. The victim says the university knew Bradford was a danger to women and failed to protect her. Bradford was recently sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two felony counts of aggravated assault.

And in August, Rodriguez was sued in civil court by Creative Artist Agencies (CAA). The agency represented the coach until the fall of 2015, and claims Rodriguez owes $230,050 in past-due fees.

Rodriguez’s contract was set to run through May 31, 2020. His buyout as of Dec. 1 was $6,487,500, according to USA Today’s annual survey of NCAA football coaches’ salaries. Because he was let go before March 15, Rodriguez will miss out on approximately $3.2 million from a master-limited-partnership provision in his contract. That pay came via publicly traded units on the so-called “Longevity Fund.” Rodriguez was set to receive 25 percent of the value on March 15. If he had been terminated any time after that, he would have been entitled to the full value of the fund.

A fast start, ugly finish 

Rodriguez’s hiring on Nov. 23, 2011 was seen as a coup for the UA and newly hired athletic director Greg Byrne. 

Arizona won the Pac-12 South Division title and finished 10-4 in 2014, then started trending downward.

The Wildcats finished 7-6 the following season, most of which was played without star linebacker Scooby Wright. Sensing that recruiting was lagging and the defense wasn’t performing up to expectations, Rodriguez turned over Arizona’s defensive staff. He hired Boise State’s Marcel Yates as defensive coordinator and promoted Jahmile Addae and Vince Amey from analysts to full-time assistant coaches.

The injury issues worsened in 2016, when Arizona lost its top two quarterbacks and running backs at various points. After starting 2-1, Arizona lost eight in a row. Only a season-ending victory over rival Arizona State put a bandage on an otherwise painful season.

The Wildcats entered 2017 with the lowest of expectations outside the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility, picked to finish last by the media in the Pac-12 South. An uneven 2-2 start only served to validate that prediction.

But in Game 5, sophomore quarterback Khalil Tate came off the bench and set a Football Bowl Subdivision record for quarterbacks with 327 rushing yards in a 45-42 win at Colorado. Tate would lead Arizona to four straight victories, winning an unprecedented four consecutive Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week awards.

The Wildcats secured bowl eligibility with a 58-37 win over Washington State on Oct. 28. They couldn’t follow up their perfect October, however, losing three of four games in November. Arizona finished the season with a 38-35 loss to Purdue in the Foster Farms Bowl.

The emergence of Tate and several freshmen on defense, including Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Colin Schooler, gave hope for bigger and better things to come in 2018. It also offered proof that the changes Rodriguez had made to the defensive staff were working, even if the immediate on-field results didn’t show it.

What’s next?

Heeke said Arizona’s next head coach will “will build a solid foundation for our program and create an identity of Arizona football that the University, Tucson and Southern Arizona communities can be proud of. We’re excited about the future of our football program, and we look forward to introducing our new head coach at the completion of the search process.”

Several current and recently employed coaches would be logical candidates to succeed Rodriguez. Boise State’s Bryan Harsin, Memphis’ Mike Norvell, Utah State’s Matt Wells and Syracuse’s Dino Babers, who was an assistant at Arizona from 1995-2000, will certainly be mentioned as potential replacements. Possible candidates who were recently let go but are still highly respected within the industry include Kevin Sumlin, Mark Helfrich, Butch Jones and Todd Graham. Jones was the coach at Central Michigan under Heeke from 2007-09.

Yates, who joined the staff in January 2016, will serve as the interim head coach.

It is unclear what will happen with the signing class of 16 players that Arizona announced last month. The NCAA instituted an early signing period for the first time this past December. It is possible those prospects could be let out of their national letters of intent (NLIs) if they no longer wish to attend Arizona. The NLI program controls the release process.

9:22 p.m.: Rich Rodriguez admits to affair but denies charges levied in claim

pic.twitter.com/PNZBbvxNTj

— Rich Rodriguez (@CoachRodAZ) January 3, 2018

Rich Rodriguez tweeted this statement Tuesday night after University of Arizona officials announced they fired him as head football coach. It read: 

“I was deeply disappointed to learn by email this evening that the University of Arizona is buying out my contract. My coaching staff and I were very excited about the trajectory of our young team, and looked forward to 2018 and beyond.

“This action comes on the heels of an outside investigation by the University into alleged workplace misconduct. This investigation concerned a complaint by my former administrative assistant, who threatened a $7.5 million lawsuit alleging harassment.

“The University initiated a thorough outside investigation. I fully cooperated with the investigation, including voluntarily taking and passing a polygraph. The University determined that there was no truth to her accusations and found me innocent of any wrongdoing.

“This was a thorough investigation that lasted over 10 weeks and included multiple members of my current and former staff. Notably, the complainant refused to cooperate with the investigation. It was comforting to be reassured of what I already knew, the claims were baseless and false.

“Regrettably, the complaint included a single truth — in the past, I had a consensual extramarital affair with a woman who is not affiliated with the University. It was wrong, and I have apologized to my wife and family. I am still working incredibly hard to repair the bonds I’ve broken and regain the trust of my wife and children, whom I love dearly.”

A fast start, ugly finish 

What’s next?

— Ryan Finley, Michael Lev and Joe Ferguson

A fast start, ugly finish 

What’s next?

— Ryan Finley, Michael Lev and Joe Ferguson