RI assistant AG caught in tirade worked as a Suffolk ADA: ‘She’s embarrassed herself’
The Rhode Island AG says one of his prosecutor employees, who previously worked in the Suffolk DA’s Office, “embarrassed herself” after she tried to use her title to block her arrest in a testy exchange with police.
In a Tuesday radio interview, Attorney General Peter Neronha said Special Assistant AG Devon Flanagan Hogan will face a “strong sanction” for an incident that has gone viral nationally.
The Newport Police Department arrested Flanagan last Thursday on a charge of willful trespassing at the Clarke Cooke House restaurant, shortly before 10 p.m. The ensuing interaction has gone viral since the department released body camera footage on Monday.
“Buddy, you’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret it,” Flanagan is heard telling a police officer on body camera footage while being placed inside a cruiser during the incident. “I’m an AG.”
Neronha said that he was “still reviewing and thinking about what I’m going to do” in terms of how he’ll discipline Flanagan, calling her conduct “inexcusable.” He said his employee would be taking “some steps to try to address that in the next day or so.”
“Look, she’s put me in a bad position,” Neronha said on Providence’s WPRO, “she’s embarrassed herself, humiliated herself, treated the Newport Police Department horribly.”
According to state payroll records, through the Massachusetts Office of the Comptroller, Flanagan worked as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County in part of 2017 and 2018. She made far short of her annual salary of $48,000, records show.
Flanagan, a Suffolk Law graduate, joined the Rhode Island AG’s Office in April 2018.
Newport Police officers responded to the restaurant at about 9:51 p.m. last Thursday for a report of an “unwanted party,” according to an incident report, which indicated alcohol was involved.
Footage captures an officer getting out of his cruiser, with Flanagan repeatedly ordering him to turn off his body cam. “Protocol is that you turn it off if a citizen requests to turn it off,” Flanagan said.
The Providence Journal reported that, according to department protocol, Newport officers can turn off body cameras if a witness or victim requests it and the scene is non-confrontational.
“She’s a lawyer,” Flanagan’s friend, Veronica Hannan, 34, is heard saying on the bodycam. “She’s a f***ing lawyer, so she knows.”
“Well, that’s (expletive) lawyer stuff, so that’s not true,” an officer responded. “So we’ve got to go.”
“I’m an AG,” Flanagan fired back. “I’m an AG.”
“Good for you. I don’t give a s***,” the officer replied. “Let’s go. We’re going.”
Hannan also faces charges of disorderly conduct, willful trespassing, and resisting arrest, according to Newport police.
The Rhode Island AG’s Office said it “immediately began a review of the incident,” which it anticipates to be done by the end of this week.
Neronha told WPRO that an apology from Flanagan to the Newport police department is “well underway,” and she will “take responsibility for her conduct.” He added suspension without pay is an option if he decides to keep her on the job.
Staged police bodycam videos are the new king of outrage bait
Staged police bodycam videos give a whole new meaning to the phrase bad actor.
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A staged police bodycam video titled, ’11 Year Old Boy Arrested For Supporting Veterans.’ Credit: Bodycam Declassified / YouTube
Spend a few minutes on TikTok or YouTube, and chances are you’ll run into one of those viral police bodycam videos. A tense traffic stop with racist undertones. A surprise arrest. A drunk, entitled woman gets her fifth DUI. A rookie officer catches a corrupt superior in the act. These clips look real enough to pass at a glance, but some of the bodycam videos currently going viral on TikTok are staged.
The staged body cam videos are the work of a YouTube channel called Bodycam Declassified, which has uploaded 35 videos over the past four months. While many of the videos are staged, the occasional legit bodycam video is mixed in for variety. The YouTube channel has more than 10.2 million views since the account was created in February.
Screenshot from a Bodycam Declassified video titled, “Cop Arrests Black Mail Carrier in Rich Neighborhood.” Credit: Bodycam Declassified
The channel joins a highly trafficked corner of YouTube: police bodycam footage, itself a subgenre of the ever-expanding true crime industrial complex. These videos are usually obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and have massive audiences. Major players like Police Activity (6.6 million subscribers), EWU Bodycam (2.02 million), Code Blue Cam (2.9 million), and Audit the Audit (2.89 million) have turned this raw, often unsettling footage into algorithm gold.
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Each of Bodycam Declassified clips follows a familiar pattern: a Florida police officer engages with someone (often a person of color), a conflict escalates, and the video ends with some overt moralizing. The titles are ripped straight from a Dhar Mann video — another scripted YouTube channel known for morality plays geared toward a younger audience.
Popular Bodcam Declassified videos have titles such as:
- Stolen Valor Fake Marine Arrested by Police Officer Who Was Real Marine
- Rookie Cop Pulls Over His Powerful Sheriff
- Black Female Officer Busts Arrogant Detective For Parking In Handicap Spot
- Cop Slaps Arrogant Prince in Ferrari and Gets Suspended
- Arrogant Police Officer Pulls Over Black FBI Agent and Regrets It
Bodycam Declassified labels its videos as fictional — sort of. The channel description implies the videos are real, with a lot of hedging. “In our channel, we bring you real, unfiltered bodycam footage, offering insight into real-world situations. In some cases, we may reenact some elements to clarify key aspects of certain encounters.”
However, in an email to Mashable, a member of the “Bodycam Declassified Team” stated, “Yes, the videos on our channel are fully scripted and performed by actors. This is clearly disclosed in multiple places: via watermarks in the footage, on our website, and in our YouTube channel description. Transparency has been a priority from day one.”
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The watermark plastered all over the videos leads to a website that issues bold DMCA warnings against content theft. Here, under a section titled Content Licensing, the site makes it clear:
“Our content is NOT actual bodycam footage.“
However, because the channel’s content is often reposted without permission by clickfarm accounts, viewers may have no idea that they’re watching staged videos.
When we contacted the email address associated with the account, the individual who responded acknowledged this problem. The individual said the channel struggles with “rampant content theft.” They added, “Many of our videos have been re-uploaded without context or credit, often stripped of the disclaimers, and presented on other social platforms as real events. Despite our proactive efforts, takedown processes on many platforms are slow and inconsistent, making it harder to preserve the original intent and integrity of the content.”
Still, the proof is in the details. The police cars in the videos look real enough, but the logos are fabricated and don’t correspond to any real jurisdictions. The videos lack the redactions and face-blurring typical of legally released bodycam footage. Most include timestamps that repeat across clips, indicating batch filming. The upload timeline — just weeks between “incident” and release — is far too fast to reflect real FOIA-based reporting.
Who’s creating these staged police bodycam videos, and why?
A Bodycam Declassified video titled, ‘Mall Security Guard Thinks He’s A Cop. Does Not End Well.’ Credit: Bodycam Declassified
For as long as the internet’s been around, trolling and outrage bait have been a reliable subgenre of social media entertainment. The formula is simple: tap into moments that trigger easy moral outrage — mid-flight meltdowns (another booming category of scripted virality), Reddit confessionals, racist white people, and of course, police encounters.
And in conversations with Mashable, the anonymous creators of Bodycam Declassified hinted at what they want to do next: staged courtroom videos.
In a series of emails to Mashable, the creators of Bodycam Declassified described the project as “part of a larger creative initiative tied to a fictional judge show currently in development.”
“We created these videos to go viral and intentionally left them unresolved to spark conversation and curiosity,” a team member wrote. “The goal was always to circle back with a courtroom series where the same characters and situations are brought before a fictional judge who delivers a verdict.”
The group claims to be behind “hundreds of massively viral videos across a range of online niches” and says they’re building a full-scale courtroom set inside a 10,000-square-foot warehouse, with professional designers who’ve worked on major productions like Bad Boys and Netflix’s Griselda.
“We’ve seen plenty of knockoffs already, but they miss the tone and satirical edge we’re aiming for. That’s why we’ve been deliberate in building this next phase to make sure the final courtroom product lands with the impact we’re setting up now.”
A preview of a Bodycam Declassified video titled, ‘Stolen Valor, Fake Marine Arrested By Police Officer Who Was Real Marine.’ Credit: Bodycam Declassified
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They claimed the project is self-funded and declined to provide any production details or internal pitch decks on the project.
Mashable was unable to independently verify these claims. The individual corresponding via email did not provide any identifying information, and when we reached out to Griselda’s lead set designer, Michael Budge, he said he had no knowledge of this project or the channel.
Additionally, when pressed with follow-up questions about the channel — for instance, why their website’s mailing address is registered to a plastic surgery clinic in Fort Lauderdale, which is also the listed address for various crypto and adult content sites — the person promptly stopped speaking to us. Not long after, the address was quietly removed from domain records.
While we were reporting this story, Bodycam Declassified uploaded a new video with the watermark “property of @curbsideconflict” — a handle that had no trace on social media or in trademark records. However, it matches the name of a just-launched YouTube channel focused on parking ticket conflicts (“Woman Refuses To Pay For Parking Because She’s Attractive“). [Editor’s note: Shortly before we published this story, the Curbside Conflict YouTube page was removed from YouTube, along with all of its videos.]
Another recent video on the Bodycam Declassified channel shows a real police encounter in Ohio, which ends with a woman being shot by an officer. The one before that? A scripted scene where the channel’s go-to actor-cop tickets a pregnant woman and her unborn child, followed by an epilogue claiming a judge ruled her unborn child would also be liable for the fine upon his or her birth.
You honestly can’t make this up. Except, clearly, someone is.
If the creators are to be believed, brace yourself for a new wave of courtroom and parking drama ragebait — likely chopped into multiple parts by TikTok clip farmers — featuring the same characters, this time arguing their cases in front of a fictional judge.
Or, maybe they’re simply making ragebait for the love of the game.
