Red Sox fans celebrate latest title; parade to follow

BOSTON (AP) — In what has become a championship tradition in the city, the Boston Red Sox will climb aboard duck boats for a parade to celebrate the team's fourth World Series title in 15 years, city officials announced Monday.

The parade Wednesday will begin at 11 a.m. at Fenway Park. The team is expected to return to Boston later Monday with the World Series trophy.

Mayor Marty Walsh said that he expected large crowds for the parade and that traffic and parking restrictions would be in place, along with tight security. Police said alcohol would be prohibited along the parade route and no one would be allowed to carry weapons of any kind.

"We've been here before, let's act like it," said Police Commissioner William Gross.

The tradition of players climbing aboard the amphibious duck boats, one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, to celebrate championships dates back to 2004, the year the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918.

In all, the city has had 11 sports championships since 2002, with the New England Patriots winning five and the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins each winning once during that period.

"Boston has certainly set a new tone around celebrations," Walsh said. "Maybe it's because we have a lot of them or maybe it's because of the way we conduct ourselves."

Jubilant fans, many of them college students, spilled out in the streets late Sunday and early Monday morning after the Red Sox' clinching 5-1 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Boston police said the crowd was largely well-behaved, and only one arrest was reported. A 22-year-old Connecticut man was charged with malicious destruction of property after climbing a light pole and punching the plastic light fixture, causing the lens to break, officials said.

Police closed off several streets around Fenway Park. A World Series championship banner was unfurled outside it just before dawn.

Two students at Bridgewater State University were arrested early Monday after being accused of vandalizing two life-sized bear sculptures on the campus during a celebration of the Red Sox win, the Enterprise of Brockton reported.

A crowd of about 2,000 students also gathered to celebrate following the game at the University of Massachusetts' flagship campus in Amherst, MassLive.com reported. A spokeswoman for the university said there were no arrests and no injuries reported.

Boston has experienced incidents in the past during spontaneous celebrations, some leading to deaths.

In 2004, an Emerson College student was struck in the eye with a pepper-pellet gun fired by police trying to disperse a crowd celebrating the Red Sox's American League Championship Series win over the New York Yankees. The city later paid a $5.1 million settlement to Victoria Snelgrove's family and agreed never to use that type of weapon again.

A settlement was also reached with police and the parents of David Woodman, a 22-year-old Celtics fan who stopped breathing and later died after being taken into custody on a public drinking charge during street celebrations after the team's 2008 championship.