Rhode Island prosecutor put on unpaid leave after warning ‘You’re gonna
regret this’ during arrest
[August 27, 2025]
By LEAH WILLINGHAM and KIMBERLEE KRUESI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island state prosecutor was put on
unpaid leave for six months after she was captured on police body camera
footage warning one of the officers who were arresting her on a
trespassing charge that he was “gonna regret it.”
Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was given the
punishment Monday. It stemmed from her Aug. 14 trespassing arrest
outside of a restaurant in Newport, the state attorney general, Peter
Neronha, said Tuesday.
“We hold our attorneys to the highest personal and professional
standards, and Ms. Flanagan plainly did not meet those standards here,”
Neronha said in a news release.
Neronha met with the officers involved in Flanagan's arrest on Monday
and apologized, said Tim Rondeau, a spokesman for the attorney general's
office. Flanagan also sent apology letters to the individual officers,
he said.
Flanagan and a friend were arrested after they were asked to leave the
Clarke Cooke House and refused, according to police.
The police footage shows Flanagan asking an officer multiple times to
turn off his body camera and then repeatedly saying “I’m an AG.”
It shows the officers approaching someone from the restaurant and asking
if “they want them trespassed.” The person clasps his hands and responds
saying, “Trespass, yeah. Cuff ’em, please.”
When the officer says Flanagan and people who were with her are
trespassing, she says “We’re not trespassing, you haven’t notified us
that we’re trespassing.”
“What did I just say to you? You’re trespassing,” says the officer, who
is not identified in the video.
“I’m an AG. I’m an AG,” Flanagan later says.
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In an image taken from police body camera footage, a Newport Police
officer closes the door of a cruiser with the detained Rhode Island
Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan after an encounter
that ended with officers detaining Flanagan on trespassing charges,
Aug. 14, 2025, in Newport, R.I. (Newport Police Department via AP)
“Good for you,” the officer says.
Eventually, Flanagan is put in a patrol vehicle and says, “Buddy,
you’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret it.”
In Rhode Island, a conviction for misdemeanor willful trespass is
punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
It is unclear whether, if convicted, Flanagan would still be able to
work in the attorney general's office.
Flanagan's attorney, Kevin Hagan, declined to comment.
In his statement announcing Flanagan was placed on leave, Neronha
said he hopes she reflects “on the seriousness of her conduct and
makes corrective changes in her life.”
“She has a long road ahead of her, but I believe that in the long
run, our worst moments can inspire us to become better people,” he
said.
According to the attorney general’s office, Flanagan has worked for
the state’s top legal office for nearly seven years and was assigned
to the criminal division’s appellate unit at the time of her arrest.
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