Police, Temple Place restaurant owner disagree over large fracas outside that ended with one arrest

Update: Licensing board says Estella's not to blame for what happened.

Boston Police say that when officers responded to a report of a large fight outside Estella's on Temple Place, they found a crowd of people on the street, up to 50 people, many of them shoving and yelling at each other, around 9:20 p.m. on June 18.

One man was arrested when he took a swing at an officer - after first declaring the cops were "pussies" - Lt. Det. Adrian Troy told the Boston Licensing Board at a hearing this morning. Troy added that pretty much every officer in District A-1 had to respond to break up the fray and send people on their way.

The hearing was on citations issued to Estella, 49 Temple Pl., for assault and battery on a police officer and for assault and battery, patron on patron, the latter for the people shoving each other.

Estella's attorney, Adam Barnosky, said none of the people were at the private party Estella's was hosting that night and noted that there are a number of other nearby establishments from which they could have come.

Estella's owner, Helder Brandao, who was present at the time, went further. In response to a comment by board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce that license holders are responsible for maintaining the peace outside their establishments, Brandao said there was initially no brawl and barely any people outside - maybe "a handful" - when police started arriving. He said he had no idea anything unusual was going on until a valet from the Godfrey Hotel came in to tell him about a fight - two women slapping a man outside the Orange Line entrance between the hotel and the restaurant.

But all the blue lights and commotion brought people from all over and the pushing and shoving and yelling began, Brandao said.

"There were no 50 people until the police came in," he said, adding "the only reason I stopped party was because they sent like 20 cruisers."

At one point, he said, he and two of his six bouncers went outside to try to pull people away from the fracas, rather than risk the police escalating the situation even more.

The police "weren't deescalating the situation, they were escalating the situation," he said, adding he told people who wanted to stay they should just walk away and get home safe.

Although some officers, including his cousin, checked on Estella's to make sure things were OK there, he said. one officer started getting "aggressive" with him, even demanding to know why he was open that late. In fact, he said, Estella's license lets it stay open until 2 a.m., leading him to wonder, "Why the fuck are police aggressive with me?"

The board decides Thursday whether Estella's could have foreseen the incident, and if so, whether it merits any sanctions.