‘Black Panther’ Director Ryan Coogler Briefly Detained By Atlanta Police After Mistaken For Bank Robber

deadline.com:

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was handcuffed and briefly detained by Atlanta police at a bank on January 7 after a bank employee mistook his written request for a $12,000 cash withdrawal as a robbery attempt.In the incident, described in a police report obtained by Deadline, Coogler, in Atlanta filming the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, had entered a Bank of America branch (reportedly wearing a Covid mask and sunglasses).

When he handed a bank teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back asking for the $12,000 in cash to be counted out of sight of other customers – “I’d like to be discreet,” he had written – the teller noticed that the large withdrawal had triggered a computer alert, and conveyed to her boss that the customer was attempting to rob the bank.Police, who later described the teller as a “pregnant black female,” arrived at the location, with one officer approaching two people in an SUV waiting outside for Coogler.

The two friends told the officer that Coogler was a “movie producer,” according to the report, but a second officer had already entered the building and placed Coogler in handcuffs.According to the report, officers quickly realized that “the incident is a mistake by Bank Of America and that Mr.

Coogler was never in the wrong and [he] was immediately taken out of handcuff and that suspects # 1 and # 2 was taken out from the rear of the patrol vehicle.”Coogler, who had asked for police badge numbers during the incident, later told TMZ (who first reported the incident), “This situation should never have happened.