The boyfriend of a Meriden woman accused of threatening to shoot police and neighbors, then blow up the building after a fight over a parking space escalated last week said she was drunk at the time and "wasn't in her right character."
Regine Rivers, 48, who lives in the condo complex at 775 West Main Street in Meriden, faced a judge Monday on felony charges of first- and second-degree breach of peace, second-degree reckless endangerment, carrying a dangerous weapon, first-degree threatening and interfering with police.
Police and a SWAT team rushed to Rivers' condo Friday afternoon after she allegedly pulled a knife on her neighbor. Rivers engaged authorities in a two-and-a-half-hour standoff before she was taken into custody.
It all started over a parking dispute. Emma Guzman-Valentin, a neighbor who identified herself as Rivers' target, said Rivers parked on an angle, leaving no room for Guzman-Valentin's car.
Guzman-Valentin left a note on Rivers' car Thursday, asking her to park properly, and Rivers confronted her with a kitchen knife Friday.
Guzman-Valentin said Rivers was also holding a glass of wine and may have been drunk, a claim Rivers' live-in boyfriend corroborated outside court on Monday.
"She was drunk. Come on. She wasn't in her right character," said Rivers' boyfriend, who covered his face and declined to give his name. "She's not a bad person. There's nothing wrong with her. She takes care of her grand babies. She takes care of her kids. She's always worked."
Local
Rivers' defense attorney agreed.
"Alcohol probably had a lot to do with it," he said in court.
Authorities said Rivers turned up the volume on her stereo while hostage negotiators attempted to reason with her Friday afternoon, and Connecticut Light & Power cut the electricity to the complex so police could communicate with her.
Police said Rivers began slipping knives under the apartment door in and threatened to shoot authorities and residents with a 9mm handgun. She also threatened to blow up the building.
"It just got crazy. It got really out of hand," said Guzman-Valentin.
Rivers eventually opened the door and was taken into custody. Authorities brought her to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
"I'm stunned, because in all my years, never have we witnessed anything like this," Guzman-Valentin said. "This same lady approached me last week in a loving, nice manner, and then for her all of a sudden to threaten me in this fashion – it blew me away. It blew me away and it scared all of us."
Rivers is being held on $75,000 bond and is due back in court next month.
