Officials review violent breakup of engagement fete

Authorities are reviewing the violent breakup of a weekend engagement party in Dorchester in which party-goers allegedly threw bottles and fists at police, and officers arrested the soon-to-be-groom.

Police and witnesses said the melee included officers swinging batons, drawing their guns, and arresting seven others. Police dispatchers called all available units in the city to the scene.

In the end, the Saturday evening fete left three officers and four party-goers requiring medical attention, police and the family said.

Irate relatives said about 25 of them walked about 2 miles yesterday from their three-family home on Eastman Street to file a report about the incident at police headquarters.

"They stampeded over the kids, trampled through the house," said Tanya Cabral, a relative who helped organize the party. "What happened here was police brutality. All I could do was beg them to stop."

A police report about the incident says officers went to the home four times to respond to complaints about noise from a deejay and some 200 people.

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Police Department, said commanders plan to review whether officers acted appropriately.

"We're reviewing the incident to determine the facts and circumstances," Driscoll said. "At this point, the information is preliminary. The department needs to look at this. It's unfortunate that several officers were assaulted in their attempts to peacefully disperse the crowd."

When officers arrived on the scene again around 10:52 p.m., five hours after their first visit, an unidentified man slammed a gate shut to keep officers out, according to the report.

They found another way in and began questioning Manuel Cabral, the soon-to-be groom, whom they later arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and keeping a disorderly house.

When they asked Cabral to turn down the music and end the party, according to the report, other party-goers challenged their orders.

Police and relatives said Cabral's sister, Antonette, is a police officer who lives on the second floor of the house and attended the party.

She declined to talk yesterday. Relatives said other police officers attended the party, too.

Officers described Manuel Cabral as "passive resistant" and said they were "interrupted by party participants who were shouting and surrounding officers."

Soon after, an unidentified man engaged the officers in what the report calls a "violent struggle," leaving one officer with injuries to her back and right wrist.

The officers called for reinforcements as they became surrounded by what they described as a "large and belligerent" crowd, some of whom allegedly threw beer bottles.

One bottle hit an officer in the chest, according to the report.

Officers said they began defending themselves with pepper spray and batons.

After scores of officers arrived, police arrested seven others on charges including assault and resisting arrest.

Those arrested included Nelson Miranda, who police say fled into the second floor and retrieved a firearm. They say he stood on the rear second floor porch and shouted to officers, "Oh yeah, look what I have for you," according to the report.

"Officers believing that the object was a firearm . . . and drew their service weapons down on Mr. Miranda," the report states.

Police said the officer who lives on the second floor told them her weapon was locked in a safe. Police never found the weapon they said Nelson brandished.

Yesterday in a phone interview, Tanya Cabral disputed the police report.

"What happened won't be forgotten," she said. "They beat my relatives to a pulp, and now they're making things up to cover themselves. It's just fabrication. The kids at the party know what they saw."

Maria Cramer of the Globe staff contributed to this report.