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The Phoenix Police Department is facing backlash after it handcuffed and detained a Black Wall Street Journal reporter while he was conducting an interview with bystanders outside a Chase Bank. Journal reporter Dion Rabuen was conducting an interview for a current story about savings accounts when he was detained, CNN reports.
Speaking to ABC 15, Rabouen said bank representatives approached him while he was standing on the sidewalk in front of the building and asked him what he was doing.
The reporter added that the officers went back inside but never told him to leave. Shortly after the officers went inside, Rabuen said he saw a police car pull up.
“The officer came out, went into the branch, after about five minutes he 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 at the branch what was going on. And he said, “Well, you can’t do that.”
Rabuen, who lives in New York, was visiting family in Phoenix over the Thanksgiving holiday when the incident happened.
The reporter said he was dressed in street clothes while giving interviews in Phoenix because he didn’t want people to think he was selling them something.
Caitlin Paradis, a bystander, recorded the conversation between Officer Caleb Zimmerman and Rabuen. The video begins as the officer places Rabuen in handcuffs.
“I heard him say he was going to leave. This is ridiculous. He’s a reporter,” Paradis can be heard saying as the footage begins.
Speaking to the news station, Rabuen said the officer did not want to look at his credentials. He also said he asked Zimmerman to clarify whether the sidewalk was private property.
“If this isn’t public property and I don’t have a legal right to be here, if you’re telling me this isn’t it, well, I’m going to move.” And he literally moved his body to prevent me from moving or going anywhere and it was,” Rabuen said. “And after we talked a little bit more, he said, ‘I’m done with this.'” And he started grabbing me. He grabs my hands. And I was kind of confused and pulled back. And he said, ‘This could get bad for you if you don’t comply and do what I say.’ So he grabs my hands and really yanks them behind my back and keeps handcuffing me.”
As Zimmerman tried to walk him to the car, Rabuen said he told the officer he didn’t want to get in.
“I couldn’t believe what was going to happen,” Rabouin said. “As the woman was recording, I thought that the chances of him not doing anything to me, whether physical or otherwise, are much greater. Once he closes that door, he can take off, he can take me somewhere. I could be arrested.
Cellphone video shows backup officers later arrive and have a brief conversation with Zimmerman, who then releases Rabuen.
According to Zimmerman’s police report, bank officials said Rabuen refused to leave and initially refused to identify himself. Zimmerman said he had probable cause to arrest Rabuen for trespassing.
In a statement to ABC 15, a spokesperson for the Wall Street Journal said the outlet has asked the “Phoenix Police Department to continue a thorough investigation of the incident and to explain why their officers unnecessarily escalated the situation and took these aggressive steps.”
“We are deeply concerned that Wall Street Journal reporter Dion Rabouin was detained, handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car while reporting,” the spokesperson said. “No journalist should be detained simply for exercising their First Amendment rights.”
Rabouen said he got a call from a police officer saying they looked into what happened and found nothing wrong. In a statement to ABC 15, the police department said “they are conducting an administrative investigation.”
“Once the administrative investigation is complete, it will be made available as part of a public records request,” the department said. “Bank staff contacted the police after receiving complaints from customers that a man was approaching people as they entered the bank, asking them personal questions. The interaction between the officer and the man who is the subject of the complaint took place on private property.
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