PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island state prosecutor was put on unpaid leave for six months after she was captured on police body camera footage warning one of the officers who were arresting her on a trespassing charge that he was “gonna regret it.”
Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was given the punishment Monday. It stemmed from her Aug. 14 trespassing arrest outside of a restaurant in Newport, the state attorney general, Peter Neronha, said Tuesday.
“We hold our attorneys to the
highest personal and professional standards, and Ms. Flanagan plainly did not meet those standards here,” Neronha said in a news release.
Neronha met with the officers involved in Flanagan's arrest on Monday and apologized, said Tim Rondeau, a spokesman for the attorney general's office. Flanagan also sent apology letters to the individual officers, he said.
Flanagan and a friend were arrested after they were asked to leave the Clarke Cook House and refused, according to police.
The police footage shows Flanagan asking an officer multiple times to turn off his body camera and then repeatedly saying “I’m an AG.”
It shows the officers approaching someone from the restaurant and asking if “they want them trespassed.” The person clasps his hands and responds saying, “Trespass, yeah. Cuff ’em, please.”
When the officer says Flanagan and people who were with her are trespassing, she says “We’re not trespassing, you haven’t notified us that we’re trespassing.”
“What did I just say to you? You’re trespassing,” says the officer, who is not identified in the video.
“I’m an AG. I’m an AG,” Flanagan later says.
“Good for you,” the officer says.
Eventually, Flanagan is put in a patrol vehicle and says, “Buddy, you’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret it.”
In Rhode Island, a conviction for misdemeanor willful trespass is punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. It's unclear whether, if convicted, Flanagan would still be able to work in the attorney general's office.
In his statement announcing Flanagan was placed on leave, Neronha said he hopes she reflects “on the seriousness of her conduct and makes corrective changes in her life.”
“She has a long road ahead of her, but I believe that in the long run, our worst moments can inspire us to become better people,” he said.
According to the attorney general’s office, Flanagan has worked for the state’s top legal office for nearly seven years and was assigned to the criminal division’s appellate unit at the time of her arrest.
