Bucci, a former city councilwoman, was the Democratic nominee for mayor of Cranston in the 2020 election, and narrowly lost a bid for Cranston’s House District 15 state representative in 2024. She currently serves as chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Committee, according to the Rhode Island Democratic Party website.
Bucci did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
Elizabeth Beretta-Perik, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, wrote in an email that party officials had “no comment at this time.”
According to police, Bucci was driving a white Lincoln Aviator just after 12 a.m. on Dec. 18 when an officer saw the vehicle swerving on Division Street.
During a traffic stop, police “immediately detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from inside the vehicle,” officer Anthony St. Laurent wrote in the report, adding that Bucci’s eyes were “severely bloodshot, glassy, and watery.”
Bucci allegedly told police she was dropping off her cousin, St. Laurent wrote.
In body-worn camera video footage obtained by the Globe, Bucci tells St. Laurent the two had been at a Christmas party and that she had a glass of wine.
Bucci tells police they are embarrassing her, and twice asks St. Laurent, “You know who I am, right?”
“I don’t know who you are, miss, and frankly — ” the officer says.
Bucci responds, “You don’t care, right?”
“No, I really don’t,” St. Laurent says. “Frankly, I don’t.”
As St. Laurent attempts to perform field sobriety tests, Bucci can be heard questioning the officer’s age and saying her nephew and uncle work in law enforcement. At one point, she says, “I hope I don’t raise a kid like you.”
“Call my husband right now and call the attorney general and everybody else in town,” Bucci yells to her cousin. “This is disgusting. God forbid I was a Black person, I’d be arrested.”
“What are you going to do, shoot me?” she asks St. Laurent.
As St. Laurent attempted to demonstrate one of the tests, Bucci “continued to scream, bark orders, and act completely belligerent towards everyone on scene,” St. Laurent wrote. “She was slurring and spitting when she was yelling and was extremely confrontational.”
“You guys are gross. My whole family is in law enforcement,” Bucci says in the video. Bucci also tells St. Laurent, “I [expletive] can’t stand you.”
According to the report, Bucci continued to be “verbally abusive” at police headquarters, calling St. Laurent an “evil [expletive] piece of [expletive],” and saying, “I told my kids if they ever became a cop I’d kill them” and “Only clowns become a cop.”
“During booking, Ms. Bucci continued her ferocious attack of abusive comments towards me by stating, ‘I’m going to get you mother [expletive],’” St. Laurent wrote.
Bucci was released on $1,000 personal recognizance and is scheduled to be arraigned in Kent County District Court on Jan. 5, court records show. No attorney was listed for Bucci as of Monday.
Steph Machado of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.