Sadly, incidents like this are all to human reactions in what amounts to misdirected anger.
Simply because the valid anger is quite real, but the real rascals are the executives in charge of the utility companies, who should have deployed their crews in a more fair way.
And because the justly angry public can't punish the real rascals, they instead misdirect their anger at the innocent. General answer, the mayor of Bridgeport should have been arresting and confronting utility executives instead from the word go. And then followed up to make sure the proper utilities executives rascals are properly punished and totally publicly disgraced.
I too have been on the short end of the stick in the past two big Indiana ice storms, but when the same wealth based bias occurred to me and my mother, I went straight to my mayor and other public officials, got straight in their face and called them wimps and rat finks in no uncertain terms. And I kept asking the same questions even after power was restored everywhere.
I can understand that kind of thinking does little at the time, but I still hope that properly directed anger will result in better results next time. Its the only thing utility executives and public officials understand.