BOSTON -- Stow police are investigating complaints against five former New England Patriots players who parents say roughed up several high school students during a charity basketball game on Saturday night.

The event, which was held at Nashoba Regional High School, was a fundraiser for the Stow Police Benevolent Association and was intended to be a contest between the former Pats players and a team of police officers and students.

Parents who contacted NewsCenter 5, however, said that no police officers showed up to play in the game, and the basketball coach and a janitor teamed up with five members of the Nashoba High School Varsity Basketball Team to compete against the former NFL players.

During the course of the game, parents say, spectators leapt onto the court in anger and at least one student refused to continue playing because referees allowed the former Patriots players to muscle the students around the court.

One parent who identified himself as a former youth basketball coach said that he witnessed the former Pats players push the students to the ground, swear at them and try to intimidate them on the court.

Rory Leland, a 17-year-old who played in the game, said that he overheard former linebacker Garin Veris threaten the team’s teenage point guard after he was stripped of the ball. Moments later, Veris crashed into the same student during a defensive play, reportedly sending him sprawling on the floor, Leland said.

Veris declined to be interviewed on camera Sunday, but in a lengthy phone interview with NewsCenter 5’s Kelley Tuthill, Veris acknowledged that the game took on a more physical and competitive nature than anyone anticipated. Veris, who played for the Patriots from 1985 to 1991 and has the third highest number of sacks in the team’s history, said he was upset that the game had “elevated to that point.”

"There was no intent to hurt anyone,” said Veris. “We tried to give the fans a good show and help raise money."

Veris said that he apologized to the student afterward for what he called a “hard foul.” He said that he made contact with the student while running in transition.

"I didn't want this to happen. We went there to help an organization raise money," Veris said.

Several teens also criticized Matt Chatham's conduct at the game, saying that he aggressively fouled one student by grabbing his neck and throwing him to the ground. Chatham could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Stow Police Department said that officers were contacted by several parents and are investigating the conduct of the former Patriots players and referees at the game.

NewsCenter 5 is not naming the other former players who were at the event because they were not named in the letters sent by parents to police.

The event was organized by a Newton company called All Pro Productions, which is run by Fred Smerlas, who played for the Patriots in the 90s. A flier advertising the game billed it as a “basketball classic” between the “Stow Police All-Stars and the All-Pro Patriots Alumni.”

The athletic director at Nashoba Regional High School said that he did not attend the game, but he is “disappointed” in the accounts he’s heard of what transpired. He said the school agreed to rent the gymnasium to All Pro Productions, but had not foreseen problems at a charity fundraiser for a police association.

"We sincerely apologize if anyone who played in, or attended the event, felt as if the event was not conducted in, or played in, a professional manner," said John Dumas, CEO of All Pro Productions.

"The high school students who played in the game played hard and wanted to win the game, just as the Patriots team did. Because of that the competitive nature came out on both teams throughout the game," Dumas said in a statement.

In 2007, the North Andover Police Department was forced to distance itself from All Pro Productions when residents complained about a telephone fundraising drive run by the company. Several people said that telemarketers, who were raising money for a police association, were verbally abusive over the phone.