The shaky beam of a body-worn camera flickers to life outside a Newport, Rhode Island, restaurant. It is late on a Thursday evening, and police have been dispatched to a call about an “unwanted party” at the Clarke Cooke House, a popular downtown establishment. What they captured has since ignited a storm of controversy — a prosecutor in the state Attorney General’s Office, once trusted to uphold the law, demanding the cameras be shut off as she was led away in handcuffs.

Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Hogan Flanagan, 38, was arrested for alleged trespassing after a confrontation that played out in real time before the unblinking lens of officers’ bodycams. Far from a routine disturbance call, the footage revealed a cascade of threats, intimidation, and desperate appeals to authority — an unraveling scene that left her professional career hanging in the balance.

“Turn your bodycam off”

According to Newport Police, Flanagan and her friend, identified as Veronica Hannan, were found loitering outside the restaurant. Officers tried to de-escalate the situation, urging the pair to leave peacefully. But instead of compliance, the encounter spiraled into confrontation.

“I want you to turn your bodycam off,” Flanagan ordered, her tone sharp and insistent. “Protocol is that you turn it off. It’s a citizen request that you turn it off.”

An officer, calm but firm, countered: “They want you to leave. Let’s just leave.”

Still, the prosecutor resisted. Another officer asked the restaurant staff whether the women should be removed. The host’s reply was blunt: “Anything we can do. Trespass, yes, cuff them, please.”

Leaning on the badge

Flanagan, who moments earlier had claimed she wasn’t trespassing because she hadn’t been formally notified, shifted her defense from the law to her title.

“I’m an AG. I’m an AG,” she declared, invoking her role as a state prosecutor. Her friend chimed in: “She’s a (expletive) lawyer. So she knows.”

But the officers weren’t swayed. One snapped back: “Good for you. I don’t give a (expletive). Let’s go.”

The cameras kept rolling. The arrest proceeded. And then came the words that now headline news reports: “You’re going to regret it.” The threat, cut off mid-sentence as the cruiser door slammed shut, lingers as the most haunting moment of the video.

Policy clash

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office quickly sought to distance itself from Flanagan’s actions. Spokesperson Timothy Rondeau told reporters that her demand to shut off the bodycams “does not reflect statewide policy,” clarifying that exceptions only apply when victims or witnesses request privacy — not suspects.

Newport Police policy confirms this: while officers may consider requests, they are not required to stop recording, and consent is not necessary to document encounters.

To officers on the scene, Flanagan’s attempt to manipulate protocol was seen for what it was. “She was immediately uncooperative, questioning our authority and demanding I turn my body camera off,” one officer wrote in the police report.

A career in jeopardy

Flanagan, arraigned in court after her arrest, now faces not just the legal consequences of the trespassing charge but also the professional fallout of her public meltdown. As a Special Assistant Attorney General, she is sworn to uphold the very laws she attempted to defy. Her conduct, recorded and released by Newport Police, could undermine her credibility in the courtroom — a devastating blow for any prosecutor.

For many, the bodycam footage underscores why transparency measures are crucial. Without it, the incident might have been reduced to a dispute between police and a prosecutor. Instead, the public has a front-row seat to see a law officer attempting to leverage her badge against the law itself.

Community reaction

The video has already gone viral, sparking heated debate across Rhode Island and beyond. Critics argue the incident highlights systemic issues of entitlement within legal institutions. “If this is how an Assistant AG behaves when the camera’s on, imagine what happens when it’s off,” one Newport resident remarked on social media.

Others praised the officers for refusing to be intimidated, applauding their restraint and adherence to protocol in the face of escalating tension. “The rule of law means no one is above accountability — not even those who enforce it,” said one civil rights advocate.

A bitter irony

That principle — no one above the law — is now the bitter irony defining Flanagan’s arrest. Once entrusted to prosecute criminal cases, she now finds herself on the opposite side of the justice system. And while her fate will be determined in court, the damage to her reputation has already been inflicted.

The moment she tried to erase — demanding cameras shut off — instead became the defining evidence against her. And the words she hurled as the door of the cruiser closed, “You’re going to regret it,” may prove true. Only not for the officers she sought to intimidate, but for herself.