An assistant attorney general in Rhode Island, Devon Hogan Flanagan, was arrested outside a Newport restaurant on August 14 and charged with trespassing, according to police.
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Body camera footage released by the Newport Police Department shows the 34-year-old Special Assistant Attorney General repeatedly identifying herself as an “A.G.” and confronting officers during the arrest. At one point, she told an officer, “Buddy, you’re gonna regret this.”
Police had been called to the Clarke Cooke House restaurant shortly before 10 p.m. following a report of an “unwanted party.” When officers arrived, they encountered Flanagan and another woman, identified as 34-year-old Veronica Hannan, outside the restaurant.
In the video, Flanagan can be heard demanding that officers turn off their body cameras, claiming it was protocol. However, Newport police procedures allow cameras to be turned off only under limited circumstances, such as when a witness or victim makes the request in a non-confrontational situation.
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When the women refused to leave the premises after being asked, Flanagan was placed in handcuffs and arrested. Hannan was also taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, and resisting arrest. Police noted that alcohol played a role in the incident.
Flanagan, who has worked in the attorney general’s office for seven years and is assigned to the criminal division’s appellate unit, faces a misdemeanor charge of willful trespassing.
The Rhode Island attorney general’s office said it immediately launched a review of the incident. Attorney General Peter Neronha, speaking in a radio interview on August 19, called Flanagan’s behavior “inexcusable” and said she had embarrassed herself, the Newport Police Department, and the office.
“She’s put me in a bad position,” Neronha said. “She is going to take some steps to try to address that in the next day or so. An apology to the Newport Police Department is clearly necessary, and she understands that.”
He added that disciplinary action was likely, including the possibility of suspension without pay, but that he had not yet decided whether Flanagan would remain employed.
Neronha also emphasized that Flanagan had misstated police body camera protocol, noting: “It’s my office that drove that body cam program in the first place. So I’m really glad that they’re on every police officer in the state.”
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