Black Panther Ryan Coogler director mistaken for bank robber

‘Black Panther’ director Ryan Coogler was briefly arrested by Atlanta police in January when they confused him for a thief at the Bank of America. Coogler confirmed the news to variety and said, “This situation should never have happened. However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”

In the report, Coogler presented the teller with a withdrawal form with a message requesting $12,000 from his checking account. He was wearing a covid face mask, sunglasses, and a hat.

The note was asking for the money to be counted somewhere else, ending “I’d like to be discreet”. According to the New York Times, he told police that he was paying for a medical assistant who worked for his family and that he needed discretion owing to the large sum of money he wanted.

Misunderstanding

The teller misunderstood the episode as an attempted robbery. It was when the transaction transcended USD 10,000 and generated an alert notification from Coogler’s bank account. They then contacted the cops as a group. When police got on the scene, they discovered a black Lexus SUV parked outside the bank with the engine running; and two people seated inside, a woman and a guy. 

The duo told an officer that they were waiting for Coogler, a “movie producer,” who was making a money transaction. The cop asked the man for a description of Coogler. However, police said in the report that it matched the description of the male suspect that was “attempting to rob the Bank of America”. The incident was also captured on police body camera footage. The footage was released by the local Atlanta Fox 5 affiliate and TMZ on Wednesday. 

Ryan Coogler comes off shocked in the footage. Behind Coogler, an officer takes his rifle from its holster for a brief moment. Coogler was being led out of the building by cops. The cops freed Coogler and his coworkers after validating Coogler’s identity and his Bank of America account. Bank of America, issued a statement, saying, “We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.” 

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