Senseless tragedy as former Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan stabbed outside dispensary
Here’s a sentence that you don’t see every day in politics: “In recent years [Will] Flanagan built a side-hustle as a performer in local film productions, including a horror film recently shot in Fall River. He also maintains a colorful social media presence on TikTok and Facebook as a pitchman for the dispensary, where a few hours before the stabbing he recorded himself singing ‘Blame it on the Rain’ during a storm outside Cosmopolitan Dispensary and urging customers to visit.”
But in Fall River, where that line comes from the Herald News outlet of record, it seems totally plausible in the context of what’s transpired with officials and their cannabis endeavors to date. The South Coast city is, after all, where a different former mayor—Jasiel Correia—was convicted on charges related to extorting prospective dispensary owners. And where, before that, Correia accused his predecessor, former Mayor Flanagan, of flashing a gun during a ride around the block in a black SUV.
No charges came from that dispute, and Correia wound up in federal prison (he’s currently in community confinement and due for full release next July). Flanagan, meanwhile, has since returned to practicing law after being recalled in 2014. He also owns a small percentage of the Cosmopolitan Dispensary in Fall River, near where he was brutally attacked and stabbed in the neck on Monday. Flanagan is still in the hospital with “significant injuries” and is reportedly in serious but stable condition.
Current Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan, who should probably stay out of the weed business, reported that Flanagan sustained a blow to the head and multiple stab wounds to the neck. A 31-year-old suspect was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the attack, and is being held without bail. Law enforcement officials say that he was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation, is known to police and for suffering from severe mental health conditions, and may not have even realized who he stabbed.
At this juncture, no one understands completely what exactly happened, except for conservative pundits and millions of commenters on right-wing news sites who are holding up Fall River as an example of a lawless blue hellhole, with some of the more shameless long-distance observers even saying that the ex-mayor got what he deserved. The haters may want to check up on his registration though; Flanagan may have run Fall River as a Democrat, but he abandoned the party last year to join Trump’s GOP. The red team, he told reporters, better reflects his positions on guns, abortion, and border security.
