English Translation
“If you’ll excuse me…” he said. I think it’s a shame.
The Japanese sentence is horrible and most likely to be interpreted as:
I said “excuse me” because I thought it was a shame.
The speaker faced an intolerable situation first, and then he/she said “excuse me” in order to walk away from such a shameful situation.
I would translate the English sentence in Japanese as:
彼は「失礼します」と言った。残念に思う。
This alternative sentence cannot be interpreted that the person who said “excuse me” is the speaker, but “he” (a third person). Also, 残念に思う makes the whole context clearer that the speaker had a bad feeling against “his” attitude.