QUINCY — A Boston fire cadet who only just graduated from the academy is now facing assault charges after police say she pummeled her boyfriend in a Quincy parking lot — right in front of officers.

Cara Stapleton, one of the department’s newest recruits, was spotted Sunday night allegedly striking her boyfriend several times outside Chantey Restaurant before slapping him again even as police tried to intervene, according to a report. Officers wrote that she smelled strongly of alcohol, her eyes were bloodshot, and she admitted on the spot that he was her “boyfriend — no, ex-boyfriend” who had cheated on her.

Stapleton’s arrest comes only weeks after she appeared in a pinning ceremony for Boston Fire’s latest cadet class. The program has been heavily promoted at City Hall as a pipeline for the next generation of firefighters. But insiders have already questioned whether standards are being bent to rush recruits through. Reports of failed fitness tests being overlooked and political pressure to push cadets forward have fueled suspicions that the department is chasing optics as much as readiness.

In this case, officers reported Stapleton begged them to remove the cuffs because she had EMT school the next morning and feared losing her city job. But instead she was booked and charged with assault and battery on an intimate partner.

The man at the center of the altercation didn’t exactly back her story. Police say he swore repeatedly at officers, denied being injured, and was ultimately taken into protective custody for being uncooperative.

For the fire department, already dogged by controversies over staffing cuts and command-level discontent, the sight of a brand-new recruit making headlines for all the wrong reasons underscores how shaky the foundation of its much-hyped cadet program has become.