❓WHAT HAPPENED: Rhode Island Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan was arrested for alleged trespassing outside a Newport restaurant.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Devon Flanagan, Newport police, and Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Thursday night outside the Clarke Cooke House on Bannister’s Wharf, Newport, Rhode Island.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The Office immediately began a review of the incident, which we anticipate will conclude within the next few days.” – Tim Rondeau, Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
🎯IMPACT: The incident has raised questions about accountability and conduct among public officials.
Law enforcement camera footage captured Rhode Island Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan (D) being arrested by Newport police last Thursday night. Flanagan was allegedly trespassing outside the Clarke Cooke House, a restaurant on Bannister’s Wharf in Newport.
The arrest video shows her appearing to be in a drunken state and repeatedly shouting, at least eleven times, “I’m an AG!” in an apparent attempt to avoid being detained.
Full bodycam footage released of Rhode Island Special Assistant AG Devon Flanagan and her friend being arrested for trespassing.
Flanagan was seen getting a police car door shut in her face after she and her friends mentioned about 20 times that she is an AG.
Flanagan is facing… pic.twitter.com/pO1DqAEkS7
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 18, 2025
Tim Rondeau, Director of Communications for Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, issued a statement confirming that the office is reviewing the incident. “The Office immediately began a review of the incident, which we anticipate will conclude within the next few days. At this time, we are unable to comment further on this matter as it relates to personnel issues,” the statement read.
Flanagan, a Democrat who has worked in the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office for seven years, serves in the Appellate Unit of the Criminal Division. During the arrest, Flanagan can be heard saying, “You’re going to regret this,” and requesting officers to turn off their body cameras, claiming it was her right as a citizen to demand this. Officers disregarded her request, as no such policy exists in Rhode Island.
In addition to Flanagan, her friend Veronica Hannan—a senior manager at PepsiCo who calls herself a “champion of diversity in STEM”—was also arrested. The body camera footage shows Hannan screaming and hissing at officers, and at one point twisting out of the officers’ grasp as they attempted to handcuff her.
Flanagan and Hannan are facing charges of willful trespass, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
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