TMZ reports: In January, “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler went to a local bank for business while filming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in Atlanta. The teller mistook him for a robber and called the police, who handcuffed him. After being detained, it was found that the arrest was wrong.
TMZ said it had obtained a local police report, showing that Coogler, who was wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask at the time, was handling cash withdrawals at Bank of America (bank name), and he wrote a line on the back of the cashier’s withdrawal slip: “I want to get from my bank. With $12,000 in cash from my checking account, please go to another place to count money, I want to be cautious.”
His concern should have been the large withdrawals, and it was precisely because of the large withdrawals that the teller, a pregnant black woman, was working on her computer when she noticed the system had raised an alarm.
Mistaking it for someone trying to rob a bank, she told her boss about it, and the two called the police together.
When the police arrived, they detained two people waiting for Coogler in an SUV outside the bank, and took Coogler out of the bank in handcuffs.
After an investigation, police said the incident was a misunderstanding, and Coogler committed no crime and was subsequently released.
“Variety” contacted Bank of America, who said: “We regret that this should not have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.”
Coogler responded to “Variety”: “This shouldn’t have happened, but Bank of America has handled it to my satisfaction and we’re relieved.”
