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Nappier Stopped, But Police and Prosecutors Say She Did Nothing Wrong

Chion Wolf

Hartford's state's attorney said Thursday there was no basis for the motor vehicle charges filed against state State Treasurer Denise Nappier last week that resulted in her car being towed after a traffic stop.

And now, a spokeswoman for the Hartford Police Department is saying the same thing.

"She didn't do anything wrong," said spokeswoman Nancy Mulroy. "The chief began an investigation Friday, the officer has been reassigned pending the results of the investigation, and at this time there's nothing to indicate that State Treasurer Nappier did anything wrong."

Police issued Nappier a summons Thursday night charging her with misusing license plates and operating an unregistered vehicle that lacked insurance after questioning her in the parking lot of a Hartford housing project.

Police towed Nappier's state car and she walked three miles home. News of the stop first appeared on a local blog.

HartfordState's Attorney Gail Hardy issued a statement Wednesday saying the car had valid registration documents and there was no basis for the police action.

Nappier, who is African-American, tells the Hartford Courant that she questions whether being black, in a black car in a black neighborhood may have contributed to police suspicions.

But it's still unclear just why Nappier was stopped to begin with.

"That probably will come out in the findings of the investigation," Mulroy said. She has not yet released the police department's incident report of the initial stop.

Wire copy from the Associated Press is included in this report.

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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