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Video: Former R.I. mayoral candidate taunts police during drunk driving arrest
“I told my kids if they ever became a cop, I’d kill ’em,” Maria Bucci allegedly told the officer who arrested her. “Only clowns become a cop.”
Caught on video in a testy exchange with police, a former candidate for mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, was arrested last week on a drunk driving charge after she twice demanded, “You know who I am, right?”
Maria Bucci, 51, now the chairwoman of Cranston’s Democratic Committee, was arrested in East Greenwich on Dec. 18 and charged with driving under the influence – first offense, blood alcohol concentration unknown. She also received several traffic citations, according to a police report and court records.
Bucci did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Rhode Island news:
According to police, an East Greenwich officer pulled Bucci over shortly after midnight on Dec. 18 after seeing her car swerve on Division Street. He reported smelling alcohol on her breath and alleged Bucci was glassy-eyed and argumentative, demanding to know how old he was and informing him, “My nephew is law enforcement, my uncle’s law enforcement.”
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Bucci also allegedly told the officer, “I hope I don’t raise a kid like you.”
In video obtained by Boston.com, she accuses the officer of embarrassing her and informs him that she and her cousin had been at a Christmas party, where she had a glass of wine. At one point during the combative exchange, Bucci instructs her cousin to call her husband, “the attorney general, and everybody else in town.”
“This is disgusting,” Bucci adds. “God forbid I was a Black person, I’d be arrested.”
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The video also shows Bucci arguing back and forth with the officer as he attempts to administer field sobriety tests, raising her voice and demanding, “What are you gonna do, shoot me? Are you gonna shoot me? What are you gonna do, arrest me?”
She also calls the police officer a “dick” and an “a—hole” as he puts her in handcuffs, telling him, “I f—ing can’t stand you.”
According to the East Greenwich police report, Bucci continued the verbal abuse en route to the station.
“I told my kids if they ever became a cop, I’d kill ’em,” she allegedly said with a chuckle. “Only clowns become a cop.”
At another point, Bucci purportedly told the officer, “I’m going to get you, motherf—er” and “this motherf—er, I’m going to kill ’em.”
She was released on $1,000 personal recognizance last week and is scheduled for arraignment Jan. 5, court records show.
A former member of the Cranston City Council, Bucci ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2020 and narrowly lost her bid for state representative in 2024.
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