*“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler was detained by police in Atlanta after being falsely accused of robbing a bank.
Police are now calling the incident a “mistaken arrest.”
Here’s what went down according to an incident report CBS46 obtained from the Atlanta Police Department:
Coogler entered a Bank of America and attempted to withdraw $12,000. He wrote the request on a piece of paper and handed it to the bank teller. The note read “I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money counter somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet.” The bank teller apparently told police that Coogler did have his government ID and Bank of America card visible, but when she went to check his account she allegedly saw an alert notification and quickly told her manager that Coogler was attempting to rob the bank. At this point, police were contacted and officers responded to the scene.
Body cam video shows police entering the bank and immediately putting a confused Coogler in handcuffs. Watch the moment via the YouTube clip below.
READ MORE: ‘Black Panther’ Dir. Ryan Coogler Mistaken for Bank Robber in Atlanta!
TMZ obtained police bodycam footage of the incident and in it, you hear Coogler in disbelief as he explains why he passes a note at the back when requesting a large amount of cash. The teller at the bank who assumed Coogler was up to no good is said to be a Black pregnant female.
Several online users reacted to reports of Coogler’s arrested by noting that he was racially profiled.
“The presumption is always that they’ve done something wrong, he’s here to rob us. He can’t be here to withdraw money that’s his,” said Richard Rose, president of the Atlanta NAACP Branch.
“The first reaction to oppression is resistance, secondly is acknowledgment, third is acceptance. When black people have accepted that white’s should be superior and that black folks are doing something wrong all the time, and she succumbed to the same thing,” Rose said.
In the police report, officers acknowledge that the arrest was a mistake, noting that “Mr. Coogler was never in the wrong and was immediately taken out of handcuffs.”
Bank of America issued the following statement: We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.
Coogler said in a statement to CBS46: “This situation should never have happened. However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”
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