What is the next worst thing to being arrested for DUI just before Christmas with a viral video of you berating an officer? Being confused with that person by irate citizens because you share the same name, Maria Bucci. It is particularly unwelcome when you are a substance abuse counselor.
On December 18, Maria Bucci, a 51-year-old Rhode Island political figure, was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving by an officer in East Greenwich. The Chairwoman of the Democratic Committee in Cranston is shown on the police bodycam video invoking her special or influential status: “You know who I am right?”
The Cranston Herald reported Bucci is a former Cranston mayoral candidate who previously served on the City Council and made an unsuccessful bid for the Rhode Island House of Representatives last year.
The officer responds by saying, “I don’t know who you are, miss. You can start throwing out names and start doing out what you need to do, it’s not going to work with me, I’m telling you right now, I’m not the guy for that.”
That only seemed to set Bucci off, who then abused the officer. The most ironic statement was the following:
“Call my husband right now, and call the attorney general and everybody else in town, cause this is disgusting, God forbid I was a Black person, I’d be arrested.”
So, after invoking a special privilege or status, Bucci attacked the officer as presumptively racist for not arresting white people for crimes that Black people are arrested for. He then arrested her for a misdemeanor as she declared, “You’re a d**k … Like I am not drinking, you’re a loser.”
If she were drunk, it would seem a case of in vino veritas, or “in wine there is truth.” The immediate response of this politician is to reveal a deep dislike of police officers and her view of officers as inherently racist.
Bucci will have to deal with the consequences, but it should be the right Bucci. While the real Bucci asked “You know who I am, right?” some appear to have done little to answer in the affirmative before going on the attack.
The problem is that East Greenwich has a second Maria Bucci, who is also a substance abuse counselor. She was apparently deluged by trolling and angry citizens.
The “other” Maria Bucci is also from Cranston but works in East Greenwich. She is 61 years old and was surprised to find herself taking the heat for someone else over the holiday.
It was bad enough that East Greenwich News ran a story to ask people to stop harassing the poor woman, noting that the newspaper:
“typically doesn’t use names when people who get arrested unless there is a public service aspect. We did not consider Bucci’s arrest rose to that level but we are writing about it now to clarify that the Maria Bucci who works for the Town of East Greenwich is not the same Maria Bucci arrested by EGPD Dec. 18 (here is that arrest report: 25-251-AR).”
Legally, the “other” Maria Bucci could sue for a publication that falsely claims she was responsible for this viral encounter. (So far, no news organizations have committed that error). However, such litigation is expensive and trolls are notoriously difficult to track down. That leaves Maria Bucci in the unfortunate class of others who share names with notorious figures, as Dr. Jeffrey Epstein recently learned after a bizarre shoutout from ep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Indeed, even spelling “Madoff” with one “f” does not help when you are scooped up in the sensation of a crime.
Bucci is clearly not on the same level as an Epstein or a Madoff. This is, after all, a still unproven misdemeanor. However, in the community of Cranston, Rhode Island (pop. 84,934), it is hard to shake a viral story with your name. The greatest penalty likely to befall the real Maria Bucci is the reputational damage, which should not be shared with that “other” Maria Bucci.
You know who I am, right? I’m a big name VIP that you should be scared of. What makes me a big name VIP? I once lost an election where I was trying to become a member of the Rhode Island house of representatives. Got that? Had I won, I would have been one of 75 members of one legislative chamber in the smallest state in the nation. But I’m not even that because I lost.
As for right now, well this should scare you to reason: right now I’m the co-chair of a political committee in a town few people have ever heard of. That should frighten you into letting me go so I can endanger the lives and safety of innocent motorists and pedestrians. P.S. Nobody is above the law.
Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
“Do you know who He is?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know who He is?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold–
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Said the king to the people everywhere,
“Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light.”
–from Do You Hear What I Hear
When danger appears without warning, and the police intervene to keep us safe, gratitude comes naturally. Officers routinely put their lives at risk on our behalf. When we are issued a ticket for our own wrongdoing, we should remember that same commitment to public safety and respond with respect, even thanking them, because enforcement exists to protect lives, not to punish arbitrarily.
Then, there were those Capitol Police officers who were battered, beaten, sprayed with bear spray, spat upon and crushed in doors, trying to do their jobs protecting members of Congress from an angry mob who believed the lie that Trump’s “victory” was “stolen by fraud”. They were deluded into believing that they should get to the floor of the House and prevent Biden from becoming President: “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.” Where is the gratitude for their sacrifice and dedication in the face of danger? One of the first things your hero did was pardon them–even those who pleaded guilty–even those found guilty by juries of their peers So, where’s the appreciation for their sacrifice? I don’t ever want to hear you Trump fans praise law enforcement ever again–it’s hypocrisy if you can just ignore Trump pardoning the J6 defendants.
THEY ALREADY SERVED TIME IN PRISON!!! Trump: Protest peacefully!
Meanwhile Tina Peters rots in jail for doing her job but apparently that story isn’t worthy of a blog post.