Two ladies claiming the right to a new college grad sparked brawl outside Downtown Crossing restaurant that took cops from three districts to quell, police, restaurant say

As a large group on Mother's Day celebrated a man's college graduation at Estella, 49 Temple Pl., two attendees at the bar got into an argument over who had dibs on the man that escalated into a large roving brawl on Temple Place and Washington Street, police and restaurant managers told the Boston Licensing Board today.

The argument over whom the man belonged to ended inside shortly before 1 a.m. on May 13 when one of the women threw a drink at the other, and security escorted them and their respective crews outside, Estella's security manager told the board, adding that bouncers held one woman inside for a bit before releasing her onto the street, in the hopes the other woman would have left the area.

Only she hadn't and she went after her love adversary, a police officer who responded to the incident told the board. Hangers on for both women then joined in and soon somebody from Estella was dialing 911 and asking for help to quell what eventually became a rock'em, sock'em brawl that ended with several arrests, one person punched to the ground and one car windshield smashed, according to testimony by police and restaurant managers.

The 12 to 15 District A-1 officers who sped to the scene quickly called in reinforcements from Districts D-4 in the South End/Back Bay and A-7 in East Boston when they realized they were outnumbered by angry, shouty people running around Temple and Washington, screaming and fighting, one A-1 officer told the board.

The officer continued that an officer who watched a guy punch another in the face, sending him to the ground, tried to arrest him, only the guy took off running towards Tremont and then the officer found himself attacked by a man who grabbed him by his ballistic vest in an attempt to keep him from going after his friend. As he brought that man under control, other people surrounded them and began punching the cop to try to get him away from the guy, which did not work.

Police ultimately arrested the first alleged pugilist, because after running up to Tremont, he then ran down West Street and up Washington back to Temple, the officer added.

The officers thought they had finally gotten the area quiet and A-1 officers not involved in any of the arrests began returning to their regular overnight posts and tours, but about ten minutes later, officers still on scene from D-4 reported the fighting had started up anew.

Estella owner George Brandao said that because of the brawl, he's shut down his popular all-day brunch on Sunday along with other Friday and Saturday events, even though that's costing him $40,000 to $50,000 a week until he can figure out what to do to prevent a recurrence. His security manager said normal Estella customers on average tend to be 30 to 40, while the crowd that night was mostly in their 20s.

Licensing Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said she would hold any vote on what to do about the incident until next week, to give Brandao a chance to talk to his general manager, currently out of the country. After Brandao said he probably didn't have any surveillance video of the incident - because he was not notified of today's hearing until a couple of weeks ago, Joyce sternly told him that going forward, any time police show up, he needs to save video for both them and the board - and that she wants written assurance that Brandao's employees know that as well.

Estella was formally cited for assault and battery patron on patron in front of premise and assault and battery on a police officer.