A Rhode Island prosecutor demanded Newport police officers shut off their body-worn cameras as she was being thrown in the back of a cruiser for alleged trespassing — warning the cops they were “going to regret it,” according to reports and authorities.
Police arrived to find Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Hogan Flanagan and her friend Veronica Hannan outside the Clarke Cooke House restaurant on Thursday evening when responding to a call about “unwanted party,” the Newport Police Department told NBC10.
Flanagan was caught hurling a series of threats and trying to intimidate officers with her job title in chaotic bodycam footage released by the department.
As cops arrived, the prosecutor told officers, “I want you to turn your bodycam off. Protocol is that you turn it off. It’s a citizen request that you turn it off,” according to the footage.
“They want you to leave. Let’s just leave,” an officer told Flanagan and Hannan, asking the women to walk away.
A cop then could be heard in the clip asking a man at the eatery’s host station if he wanted the women removed from the premises.
“Anything we can do. Trespass, yes, cuff them please,” the man responded.
“We’re not trespassing. You haven’t notified us that we’re trespassing,” Flanagan said.
“Let’s go. I don’t want to arrest you guys,” an officer replied.
After a continued struggle after getting the women to leave the restaurant and repeated requests for cops to turn off their body cameras, Hannan tells cops that Flanagain is “a (expletive) lawyer. So she knows.”
“Well, that’s bull (expletive) lawyer stuff. So that’s not true,” the officer fired back.
“I’m an AG. I’m an AG,” Flanagan replied, to which the officer yelled, “Good for you. I don’t give a (expletive). Let’s go.”
“You’re going to regret it. I’m an A—,” Flanagan said as an officer slammed the cruiser’s door, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Timothy Rondeau, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, told the Boston Globe on Monday that Flanagan’s request for cops to cut the cameras does not reflect statewide policy and only applies to victims and witnesses of crimes.
When a member of the public objects to being recorded on a bodycam, an officer “may determine whether to proceed with recording,” according to the Newport Police Department’s policy, which also notes consent is not necessary to record, the outlet said.
Flanagan “was immediately uncooperative, questioning our authority and demanding I turn my body camera off,” an officer wrote in a police report obtained by the outlet.
The state’s Attorney General’s Office immediately launched a review of the incident, according to the publication.
Flanagan was later arraigned in court, according to authorities.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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