An Ohio police chief defended the arrest of a “tough” NewsNation reporter as the reporter took a live photo during a press conference Wednesday attended by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R).
The comments come after police removed Evan Lambert, a journalist, from a middle school in East Palestine, Ohio, and handcuffed him to the ground.
DeWine, who provided an update on a train derailment during the news conference, later noted that he did not authorize the arrest and that reporters “have every right” to report on his news conferences.
“If someone was stopped from doing it or told they couldn’t do it, that was wrong,” DeWine said.
East Palestine Police Chief JC Brown III apparently justified the arrest in a statement and found Lambert’s report strong.
Brown added that officials approached Lambert to make sure other members of the media were informed before “an altercation” broke out and disrupted the news conference.
His statement later described the situation as “evolving into a physical confrontation,” although video of the scene before the arrest does not appear to show such a confrontation, as Mediaite pointed out.
You can read more about Brown’s statement in a NewsNation report.
Body camera footage from an Ohio State Highway Patrol officer shows Lambert arguing that he is allowed to attend the press conference before officials escort him out of the gymnasium and wrestle him to the floor.
Lambert was arrested on felony trespassing and resisting arrest charges prior to his release from jail Wednesday.
Lambert’s attorney, Frank Cassese, in a statement to NewsNation, disputed the allegations and called them “a futile attempt by law enforcement agencies to justify their inexcusable interference with your reporting obligations as Mr. Lambert.”
“Our position is that the numerous videos of the incident, recorded by bystanders, speak for themselves,” said Cassese, who criticized an official’s claim that he was convinced Lambert “was prepared to harm him.”
DeWine, in an interview Thursday, said he does not want to see Lambert in prison.
“I don’t want to see him tried. But to say that what happened would not be the truth,” DeWine said.
“The journalist had every right to broadcast. Nobody should have said anything to the reporter, whether it was out loud or not.”
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