New Britain’s mayor might have said council members should be shot for raising taxes too much, but he said he did not mean it as an actual threat.
New Britain city alderman Phil Sherwood filed a complaint with city police on June 21, the Herald of New Britain reports.
That was a week after a leadership meeting during which the Common Council approved a budget and New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart vetoed several items.
Stewart told the newspaper that he did say council members should be shot for threatening to raise local taxes too much.
Stewart told the newspaper that he said, “If you do that you should be shot,” and it was in relation to what they were threatening to do to the city’s taxpayers.
He denied that he meant it as an actual threat. “That’s absurd,” he told the newspaper.
Police Chief William Gagliardi forwarded Sherwood's complaint to the city's corporation counsel after Sherwood said he didn't want to pursue the matter to the point of an arrest.
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But Sherwood is now demanding a full police investigation.
“I was told that they were going to interview the people and make an attempt to corroborate it and that was very important to me,” Sherwood told the newspaper. “I wanted it substantiated and I want to keep all my options on the table, and that includes arrest.”
