A reporter was pushed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for trespassing while covering a news conference about the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio.
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.”
Michael Corn, president of news at NewsNation, said in a statement, “The many videos of this incident taken by bystanders speak for themselves. We will let people draw their own conclusions about how this incident was handled by the officers involved.”
Take a look —
NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was arrested at the scene of a Gov. Mike DeWine press conference on Feb 8 while reporting on the train derailment in East Palestine, OH.
DeWine criticized the journalist’s arrest, saying Lambert had ‘every right’ to do his job. pic.twitter.com/5bbnD7cNAb
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) February 10, 2023
I wasn’t going to watch this. But it is important to show. My colleague was trying to do his job. This video shows Ohio’s commander of the National Guard, Adjutant General Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr., shove my colleague. Escalating the situation. @NationalGuard @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/CW3ldxbGZL
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) February 10, 2023
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, a Republican, “has always respected the media’s right to report live before, during, and after his press briefings” the statement said. The arrest drew condemnation from both parties.
Mike Viqueira, NewsNation’s Washington Bureau chief, called the arrest an infuriating violation of the First Amendment.
The Washington, D.C.-based Lambert could still face charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, NewsNation said.
The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office administration said the arrest was made by officers from the East Palestine Police Department.
County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin told CNN that Lambert had been arrested for criminal trespassing and resisting arrest, on preliminary charges. Lambert is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 23, according to criminal records obtained by CNN.
About 50 train cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash Friday night on the edge of East Palestine. Federal investigators say a mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the derailment.
Nearby residents in Ohio and neighboring Pennsylvania were ordered to evacuate when authorities decided on Monday to release and burn chemicals from five tankers filled with vinyl chloride, sending hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosgene into the air.
At the news conference, authorities said sampling had shown air quality in the area was safe and residents could return home, although DeWine said some residents may want to wait until the air inside their homes is checked.
Unverified videos of the burns began to circulate on social media.
Take a look —
This is what they call a "controlled release" The train derailment in Ohio at a little town called East Palestine had at least 5 tanker cars full of toxic flammable chemicals, apparently the only options were to let it burn like this or it would go off like a bomb. pic.twitter.com/SfogMDO9hd
— 🥀_ Imposter_🥀 (@Imposter_Edits) February 7, 2023
The news conference started more than two hours late and DeWine started speaking at the same instant Lambert had to do a live broadcast from the back of the gym, Preston Swigart, a photographer who was with Lambert, told NewsNation.
Swigart said police officers approached Lambert and asked him to stop talking. Lambert finished the live report but was then asked to leave by authorities, who tried to forcibly remove him from the event, NewsNation reported.
“From their standpoint, he didn’t obey orders,” Swigart said. “Gymnasiums are echoey and loud and sound kind of carries, so I’m guessing that they just didn’t like the fact that there was sound competing with the governor speaking, even though it was all the way at the other end of the room.”
The anchor handling the report said she heard the reporter saying, “The governor has just started speaking. I’m being told that I have to quit my report” before it was cut short.
Video captured by NewsNation affiliate WKBN-TV showed Lambert on his face on the ground being handcuffed. He was then taken outside and placed in the back of a sheriff’s patrol car.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.