babyshowerbrawl
Stoughton Police Department

A violent brawl on Saturday at a baby shower in Massachusetts that involved as many as 200 people led to the arrests of three men and a 14-year-old boy.

Stoughton police say that 24-year-old Patrick Cardoso Lopes; 24-year-old Paulo Pires Depina; 22-year-old Aderito Lopes Deandrade; and a 14-year-old boy whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, were arrested and booked on Saturday night. The four men were all charged with disorderly conduct, resisting an arrest, and assault and battery on a police officer, reported the Associated Press. Deandrade and the unidentified 14-year-old were also charged with obstruction of justice, which is a felony in Massachusetts.

According to local news station WCVB, Stoughton police say that they responded to a call reporting a disturbance at Club Luis de Camoes at 76 Porter St. at about 11:45 p.m. on Saturday night. What police found when they arrived at the Portuguese function hall was no less than “a nightmare,” said Stoughton police Sgt. Daniel McGowan.

Bottles were reportedly being thrown and furniture was being smashed as small children looked on, police said. A total of 30 police officers from Stoughton along with neighboring towns Canton, Randolph and Easton responded to calls for additional assistance.

“Oh my God. It was just nonstop. There would be a skirmish in this corner, we’d go over to address it, and then another one would start up somewhere else,” McGowan told the Patriot Ledger on Sunday. “It was a nightmare.”

McGowan added that the partygoers were extremely aggressive towards the police when they arrived, reportedly assaulting and yelling at the officers. Police officials said that four officers suffered minor injuries, and one officer was forced to use his stun gun on a partygoer.

“The behavior (of the partygoers) was appalling. They not only put officers at risk, but their own children at risk during all this,” Executive Officer Robert Devine added, speaking to the Ledger.

McGowan said that officers encountered difficulties simply gaining access to the building at first. He claimed that police initially tried to get into the building through a fire escape on the side of the two-story building, but when they reached the top they were blocked by a group of women fighting. When they finally managed to get inside, the unruly crowd refused to settle down.

“We just started to try to calm people down, break up a few fights, and slowly get people on their way,” McGowan said. “But no one would comply to any of our requests, not the oldest person, not the youngest person.”

McGowan described the task of getting people out of the building as Sisyphean; he said that officers would herd people outside but “they’d turn around and come back in” and resume fighting.

Lopes Deandrade and Depina were each released on $1,000 bail on Sunday. They were all scheduled to be arraigned on Monday at Stoughton District Court.

Security