WEST WARWICK — A shouting match between state Sen. Stephen D. Alves and members of the Town Council erupted when a disagreement regarding an agenda item escalated after Tuesday’s meeting ended.

News of the possible replacement of District Court prosecutor Brenda E. Carcieri with state Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill brought protesters to the council meeting. Residents voiced concern about the appointment, suggesting it was a result of political favoritism. The council went on to vote 3 to 2 to appoint O’Neill. Council members Angelo A. Padula Jr. and David Gosselin Jr. voted against the appointment.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Padula said yesterday. “It’s not anything against O’Neill, but we had a prosecutor everyone was satisfied with. I didn’t think we needed a change.”

After the exchange, the town’s chief of police had Alves driven home, saying the senator was “too upset to drive.”

O’Neill, a Democrat representing Pawtucket, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004. He is a graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law and has his own law practice. Carcieri was nominated to be District Court prosecutor in December 2003 by then-Council President Jeanne-Marie DiMasi and the appointment was approved by the council. A graduate of New York University School of Law, Carcieri worked as a lawyer in private practice, and later, in the state attorney general’s office.

During the meeting, DiMasi, who did not run for reelection, apologized to Carcieri for what she said was retribution toward her. Toward the end of the public comment section, according to Council President Edward A. Giroux, a resident accused Alves, who was not at the meeting, of “impropriety” regarding O’Neill’s appointment.

Alves, D-West Warwick, who does not regularly attend Town Council meetings, said that when he was told of the accusation, he rushed to the meeting from a family birthday party to clear his name.

“I’m getting tired of it,” he said yesterday.

“All week, I’ve been hearing about an appointment that I had nothing to do with, nor do I care about. This is the minutiae people are getting worked up about when we have major problems with this upcoming budget.”

Because the audiotape recording of the council meeting ends before the meeting was adjourned, no accurate record exists of the last moments of the meeting.

Giroux said he heard Alves shouting at the resident who had made the accusation and then at council members Padula and Gosselin after the meeting. According to Padula, he and Alves got into a heated exchange when Alves said Padula and Gosselin would serve on the council for only one term. Both members were elected in November.

“He said I was a disgrace to the town,” Padula said. “Why? Because I’m sticking up for the constituents? He didn’t have a say in putting me in office, the people did.”

The shouting match spilled out of the council chambers and into the hallway, said Police Chief Peter Brousseau, who attended the meeting. Brousseau said that he escorted Alves out of the building in an effort to calm the situation. The two stood by Alves’ car until Democratic Vice Chairman Felix Appolonia drove Alves home.

“I did get someone to give him a ride home,” Brousseau said. “He was upset by the whole incident — too upset to drive.”

The town prosecutor is an appointed position and the Town Council has the authority to change that appointment at their discretion, and, in fact, regularly does, said Brousseau.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Brousseau said. “When there are changes in leadership, the prosecutor does change. … A lot has been made out of it in comparison to the other times it has been changed. Those changes went through and were never given a second thought.”

Carcieri was appointed when the new council took office in 2003. That appointment was steeped in controversy in June 2005, when the Town Council bypassed the temporary replacement Carcieri appointed to fill the position while she was on maternity leave. Instead, O’Neill was appointed to act during the nine-week period.

Giroux said that the council will likely enact rules of engagement for council meetings in an effort to keep such incidents from happening again.

Alves, a senator since 1994, yesterday explained his actions.

“If I had to do it all over again,” Alves said, his voice trailing off. “They got me to my breaking point. I’m not going to have a council meeting with everyone blaming me and accusing me of things I had nothing to do with. I’ve kept my mouth shut far too long with those people.”