Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was placed on unpaid leave beginning Monday with no end date as the office reviews her Aug. 14 arrest on a misdemeanor willful trespassing charge. Police body-worn camera footage of the incident went viral and shows the 34-year-old and a friend arguing with officers responding to a call about an unwanted party outside Clarke Cooke House. Police reports indicate alcohol was involved and it was unclear why the pair were not welcome. Flanagan repeatedly identified herself as an AG and demanded officers turn off their bodycams. She warned an officer he would "regret this" while being loaded into a cruiser. Her friend Veronica Hannan was also arrested on charges including disorderly conduct, willful trespassing, and resisting arrest, and Hannan's lawyer said officers acted quickly and forcefully.
Police body-worn camera footage of the incident went viral online and shows the 34-year-old and her friend arguing with officers who were responding to a call about an unwanted party outside Clarke Cooke House. It was unclear why the pair were not welcome at the restaurant, but police reports indicate alcohol was involved. "I'm an AG," Flanagan repeatedly tells officers in the video, also demanding they turn off their bodycams.
"Protocol is that you turn it off if a citizen requests ... to turn it off," she says in the video. The AG's office has said Rhode Island's body-worn camera policy actually stipulates that an officer may turn off the camera at their discretion upon the request of a victim or witness. "Buddy, you're going to regret this," Flanagan can be heard telling an officer as she's loaded into a police cruiser.
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