Rep. Aundré Bumgardner, D-Groton, recorded blood alcohol levels of 0.18% and 0.17%, more than double the legal limit of .08%, after his arrest early Sunday while attempting to drive home with his wife on a shredded tire, Groton town police said.
A police report released Monday afternoon described Officer Evan Zavickas observing Bumgardner driving slowly with his hazard lights blinking on the Gold Star Highway, then pulling over. When the officer stopped, Bumgardner exited his Subaru and told Zavickas he had “struck something” on the highway that caused a flat.
“Bumgardner said he did not live too much further and was trying to get home. At this time I believed Bumgardner was knowingly operating his motor vehicle with a defective mechanism, trying to get the vehicle home. The nearest highway off ramp was approximately 1.25 miles east from where I first observed the Subaru operating,” Zavickas wrote.
The front passenger side tire was “flat and torn apart, barely staying on the rim,” he wrote. The vehicle had his legislative plate.
Bumgardner’s wife was asleep in the back seat.
Bumgardner, who was wearing a sports jacket and dress slacks, said they were returning from an “event” he declined to identify. He smelled of alcohol and slurred his words, but he initially denied drinking, police said. He agreed to a field sobriety test and was arrested after failing. A second officer drove his wife home.
Bumgardner was charged with reckless driving and operating under the influence.
At the station, Bumgardner consented to a breathalyzer test, but first demanded to know his wife’s whereabouts, police said. He was told twice, police said.
“Where’s my wife! 1983. 19… section 1983. That’s my lawsuit. Where’s my wife right now sir,” Bumgardner said, according to the report. Section 1983 is a section of a federal civil rights law allowing suits against government employees acting under color of law.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said Bumgardner informed him of the arrest Sunday morning. Ritter immediately suspended him from leadership and committee assignments, as he has in two recent DUI cases involving House members. Bumgardner’s ability to cast floor votes is unaffected.
“I have spoken with Aundré, and he understands that he must take full responsibility and work every day to win back the trust of his constituents and colleagues,” Ritter said. “Aundré is a dedicated and compassionate young man, and it is clear from talking to him that he is owning this very serious mistake.”
Bumgardner is an assistant majority leader, vice chair of the Environment Committee and member of the Energy and Technology Committee, Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, and Transportation Committee.
Bumgardner declined to comment Monday on the advice of his lawyer.
Bumgardner, 30, is serving this third term in the 41st House District of Groton and Stonington. He was elected in 2014 as a Republican and lost in 2016, then left the GOP and became active in the local Democratic Party.
He returned to the House after winning with 62% of the vote in 2022. He was unopposed in 2024.