Rhode Island prosecutors file for unpaid leave after warning “You will regret” during arrest
Providence, Rhode Island – Rhode Island prosecutors were sent on unpaid leave six months after being arrested on police department cameras, warning one officer that they arrested her on charges of trespassing, saying he “would regret it.”
Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was punished. State Attorney General Peter Neronha said Tuesday that this was due to her trespassing arrest outside a restaurant in Newport on August 14.
“We take lawyers to the highest personal and professional standards, and Ms. Flanagan is clearly not meeting these standards here,” Nironaha said in a press release.
Neronha met with the arrested officers of Flanagan on Monday and apologized, said Tim Rondeau, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. Flanagan also sent letters of apology to individual officials, he said.
Flanagan and a friend were asked to leave Clarke Cooke’s house and refused, according to police.
Police video shows Flanagan asked an officer to turn off his body camera multiple times and then repeatedly say “I am AG.”
This shows that the officer approached someone from the restaurant and asked “whether they want them to invade.” The man grabbed his hand and replied, “Yes. Cuffs. Please.”
When the officer said Flanagan and the people she was with were breaking in, she said: “We are not trespassing, you did not inform us that we are trespassing.”
“What did I just say to you?
“I’m AG. I’m AG,” Flanagan said later.
“It’s good for you,” the officer said.
Eventually, Flanagan was placed in the patrol car and said, “Man, you will regret it. You will regret it.”
In Rhode Island, convictions for intentional trespassing can be imposed up to one year in prison, up to $1,000 in fines, or both. It is not clear whether Flanagan will still be able to work in the Attorney General’s office.
Flanagan’s attorney Kevin Hagan declined to comment.
Neronha said in a statement announcing Flanagan’s leave that he wanted her to reflect the severity of her behavior and to change the corrective measures of her life. ”
“She has a long way to go before her, but I believe our worst moments can inspire us to be better people in the long run,” he said.
Flanagan worked in the state’s top law office for nearly seven years and was assigned to the criminal department’s appeal unit when arrested, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
