A broadcast reporter was pushed to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested while covering a news conference about the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio.
“Doing a live shot gets you arrested in America in 2023,” Lambert said while being escorted out.
“I got arrested because I was trying to do a live report about what people need to know,” he added.
NewsNation posted video of correspondent Evan Lambert being arrested Wednesday in the gymnasium of an elementary school in East Palestine where Gov. Mike DeWine was giving an update about the accident.
Lambert was held for about five hours before being released from jail, NewsNation reported.
“I’m doing fine right now. It’s been an extremely long day,” Lambert said after his release. “No journalist expects to be arrested when you’re doing your job, and I think that’s really important that that doesn’t happen in our country.”
At the end of his news conference, DeWine said he didn’t authorize the arrest and reporters have “every right” to report during briefings.
“If someone was stopped from doing that, or told they could not do that, that was wrong,” DeWine said.
A following statement from the governor’s office said DeWine didn’t see the incident because a bank of cameras blocked his view but he did hear a “disagreement toward the back of the gymnasium.”
DeWine “has always respected the media’s right to report live before, during, and after his press briefings” the statement said.
The Columbiana County Jail said East Palestine police officers arrested Lambert, who was released from jail late Wednesday night. He will face a judge on Thursday.
Police Chief J.C. Brown III sought to justify the violation of Lambert’s constitutional rights by claiming that Ohio National Guard Major General John C. Harris, Jr. and two state troopers ordered him to stop delivering a live report on the air during the news conference.
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