Conn. councilwoman apologizes for arrest behavior

GLASTONBURY, Conn. — A town councilwoman apologized to police Wednesday for her conduct after a police video showed her warning officers who were charging her with drunken driving that she approves their salaries.

Barbara Wagner, 59, wrote a memo of apology to Police Chief Thomas Sweeney for the June 2 incident in Glastonbury, southeast of Hartford.

“Obviously, the entire episode was inappropriate and I deeply regret my conduct and can assure you that I’ve stayed out of trouble for my first thirty-three years living in Glastonbury up to now and hope to have several more decades to redeem myself,” Wagner wrote.

A police department video released Tuesday shows Wagner upset and frustrated as she is being interviewed in the police station after her arrest.

At one point she tells an officer that she is a member of the Glastonbury Town Council and “I approve your salaries” and adds that she thinks the officer is being “really rude.”

Wagner, who was stopped for driving erratically, has applied for admission into the state’s alcohol rehabilitation program, which is available to first-time offenders. As part of the application, the file in the case has been sealed.

If a judge allows her into the program and she successfully completes it, the charges can be dismissed.

Wagner is due back in court July 13.