Bodycam video shows assistant attorney general arrested for allegedly trespassing

Описание: Police have released body-worn camera footage from the night a Rhode Island assistant attorney general was arrested for allegedly trespassing last week.

Officers were called to 24 Bannister’s Wharf in Newport late Thursday night for reports of customers refusing to leave.

Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was arrested, according to the R.I. Attorney General’s Office. Police said she was summoned to court on a willful trespass charge.

As officers approached Flanagan, she pointed at one of them and said, “I want you to turn your bodycam off. Protocol is that you turn it off if a citizen requests that you turn it off.”

“She’s a lawyer. She’s a lawyer,” a woman next to Flanagan added.

However, Flanagan continued to argue, insisting police protocol required the cameras to be turned off.

Restaurant staff told police they wanted the pair removed.

“Do you guys just want them out?” an officer asked. “Do you want them trespassed?”

“Anything we can do,” a worker replied. “Trespass? Yeah. I just need them out. Please.”

Officers told Flanagan and the other woman they were trespassing and warned they would be arrested if they didn’t leave.

“We’re not trespassing. You haven’t notified us that we’re trespassing,” Flanagan said.

“What did I just say to you? You’re trespassing … I don’t want to arrest you guys,” the officer responded.

“You’re not gonna arrest us,” Flanagan said before repeatedly identifying herself as an attorney general.

An officer then tried to deescalate the situation, saying, “So they want you guys to leave? Let’s just leave. Let’s just make it easy, OK?”

When an officer took out handcuffs, Flanagan exclaimed again, “I’m an AG. I’m an AG. What are your probable cause to detain me for?”

She was then placed in the back of a cruiser, telling police, “You’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret it.”

The second woman was also arrested.


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