Last week, Rhode Island Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Hogan Flanagan was arrested and charged with trespassing after an alcohol-fueled incident in front of a restaurant. And that would be bad enough, but the arresting officer’s body cam footage was released and it tells a tale that’ll be a lot harder to live down than a misdemeanor arrest.
The incident demonstrated the utmost in entitlement. Hogan Flanagan and a friend were asked to vacate the premises of a Newport restaurant, and they refused both the business’s and police requests to do so.
The footage shows the prosecutor misstating the law as she demands the cops shut off their bodycams (they refuse as she was a suspect, not a victim).
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Nearly a dozen times Hogan Flanagan repeats, “I’m an A.G., I’m an A.G.,” as she’s being ushered into the police cruiser.
As if the legal version of “don’t you know who I am?” wasn’t enough, Hogan Flanagan tops it with this kiss of death: “Buddy, you’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret it.”
Oh, that feels like foreshadowing.
The Rhode Island attorney general’s office said in a statement, “The Office immediately began a review of the incident, which we anticipate will conclude within the next few days.” But the actual RI Attorney General, Peter Neronha, had harsher words, saying she’d receive a “strong sanction” including a “suspension without pay” *if* he decides to retain her with the office.
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“Look, she’s put me in a bad position. She’s embarrassed herself, humiliated herself, treated the Newport Police Department horribly,” Neronha said. “She is going to take some steps to try to address that in the next day or so.”
“It was inexcusable behavior,” he said. “She knows better. … I’ve got 110 lawyers. She embarrassed all of them, in a sense.”
Somebody sure regrets the incident, but it isn’t the cop.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].