Officers From Five Cities Break Up Melee at Party : Crime: Gathering at La Palma center near police station erupts in brawls. Four arrests are made.

More than 30 police officers and a helicopter had to be summoned from neighboring cities early Sunday to help break up a series of brawls at La Palma’s Recreation Center, directly across the street from the police station.

Shortly after midnight, La Palma police responded to a report from city employees that a fight had broken out at a private party attended by about 500 people at the Recreation Center at 7821 Walker St.

Though that fight had broken up by the time officers arrived, a series of other brawls erupted in the parking lot of the Recreation Center while the officers were still on the scene. They called for reinforcements, police said.

As the crowd from the party spilled into the lot, the clashes became so numerous that the La Palma officers could not bring them under control, so they broadcast a call for assistance from other departments, police said.

Thirty-three police officers arrived from the the nearby communities of Buena Park, Cypress, Los Alamitos and Garden Grove, and a police helicopter was also dispatched. Officers issued an order to disperse, and the disturbance died down by 12:43 a.m.

No one was injured in the melee, which mostly involved teen-agers and young adults. Three men and one youth were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace.

In a news release, La Palma police said they do not know what triggered the fights but do not believe they were gang-related. Police referred further requests for information about the incident to La Palma Recreation Director Ronald Kenny.

Kenny said Sunday he had not been informed of the troubles at the center and could not immediately say what party was being held there. He said the city often rents out the center for private parties, but the room holds a maximum of 200 people.

“It sounds like people came and were waiting in the parking lot,” he said, when told that the turnout was estimated at 500.