A Black Wall Street Journal Reporter Was Handcuffed After Conducting Interviews Outside A Bank, Phoenix PD Faces Backlash
The Phoenix Police Department is facing backlash after handcuffing and detaining a Black Wall Street Journal reporter while he was conducting an interview with passersby outside a Chase Bank. The Journal reporter, Dion Rabouin, was conducting the interview for an ongoing story about savings accounts when he was detained, CNN reports.
Speaking to ABC 15, Rabouin said representatives from the bank approached him as he was standing on a sidewalk outside the building and asked what he was doing.
The reporter added that the employees walked back inside, but never told him to leave. Shortly after the employees went inside, Rabouin said he saw a police car pull up.
“The officer came out, walked into the branch, after about five minutes came out, and talked to me,” Raboin told ABC 15. “He asked me what I was doing. I identified myself. I said, ‘I’m Dion Rabouin. I’m a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. I’m working on a story. I told the people in the branch what was going on.’ And he said, ‘Well you can’t do that.’”
Rabouin, who lives in New York, was visiting family in Phoenix during the Thanksgiving holiday when the incident happened.
The reporter said he was wearing street clothes while doing interviews in Phoenix because he didn’t want people to think he was selling them something.
Katelyn Parady, a bystander, recorded the conversation between officer Caleb Zimmerman and Rabouin. The video begins as the officer was placing Rabouin in handcuffs.
“I heard him say he was going to leave. This is ridiculous. He’s a reporter,” Parady can be heard saying as the footage begins.
Speaking to the newsstation, Rabouin said the officer didn’t want to look at his credentials. He also said he asked Zimmerman to clarify whether the sidewalk is private property.
“’If this isn’t public property and I don’t have a legal right to be here, if you’re telling me that’s not what this is, fine, I’ll move.’ And he literally, kind of, shifted his body to keep me from moving or going anywhere,” Rabouin said. “And after we talked a little more, he said, ‘I’m done with this.’ And he started grabbing me. Grabbing at my arms. And I was kind of flustered and drew back. And he was like, ‘This could get bad for you if you don’t comply and don’t do what I say.’ So he grabs my arms and really wrenches them behind my back and proceeds to put me in handcuffs.”
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