A Rhode Island prosecutor told police "you're going to regret this" during a confrontation that ended in her arrest, which was caught on an officer's body camera, officials said Tuesday.
Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Hogan Flanagan and a friend had been asked to leave Clarke Cooke House in Newport when officers arrived, police video showed.
“I want you to turn your bodycam off," Hogan Flanagan immediately tells the officers. "Protocol is that you turn it off. It’s a citizen request that you turn it off.”
At numerous points of the video, police tell Hogan Flanagan and her friend, Veronica Hannan, that the confrontation would be over if they just left the Bannister’s Wharf restaurant.
“Let’s go. I don’t want to arrest you guys” for alleged trespassing, an officer behind the camera says.
"You’re not going to arrest us," Hogan Flanagan responds.
“So let’s leave. We got to go. We got to go,” the officer replies.
The women stood their ground outside the restaurant and would not leave.
It wasn't clear in the video what sparked the women’s conflict with the restaurant or why they insisted on staying. An officer can be heard on camera asking a restaurant employee: “Do you just want them out? Do you want them trespassed?”
“Anything we can do. Trespass, yes,” the employee said.
Hogan Flanagan and Hannan kept reminding officers throughout the encounter that she's a lawyer. "I'm an AG, I'm an AG," Hogan Flanagan said.
The two women were eventually handcuffed as Flanagan told police: “You’re going to regret this!"
She continued to say, "I'm an AG."
As Hogan Flanagan was loaded into the back of a police car in handcuffs, she said one more time, "I'm an A," when the door slammed and cut her off before she could get out a final "G."
The state attorney general's office identified Hogan Flanagan as a special assistant attorney general who has been on the job for seven years and is assigned to the Criminal Division's Appellate Unit.
State prosecutors are still reviewing the incident.
"At this time, we are unable to comment further on this matter as it relates to personnel issues," AG’s spokesperson Timothy Rondeau said in statement Tuesday.
Hogan Flanagan was charged with willful trespass and given a summons to appear in court, police said.
Hannan was charged with willful trespass, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police said.
Bodycam video showed Hannan briefly slipping out of handcuffs during the confrontation and repeatedly kicking the door of police vehicle as officers tried to arrest her.
Hogan Flanagan and Hannan did not immediately reply to calls seeking comment Tuesday.
