Reporter arrested during DeWine’s news conference on train derailment
A television news reporter who was broadcasting a live report Wednesday on the trail derailment during Gov. Mike DeWine’s news conference ended up getting arrested and taken away in handcuffs.
NewsNation Correspondent Evan Lambert was giving his report at the back of a school gymnasium during DeWine’s news conference when police officers approached him and told him to quit talking, NewsNation reports. When he finished his live feed moments later, Lambert was pushed to the ground and handcuffed before being led away, reports say. NewsNation has video of the arrest.
Lambert spent about five hours in jail before being released, reports say. The arrest was conducted by officers from the East Palestine Police Department, according to the the Columbiana County Sheriff
’s Office.
“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.”
DeWine said after his news conference he did not ask for Lambert to be arrested.
“It has always been my practice that if I’m doing a press conference, someone wants to report out there and they want to be talking back to the people back on channel, whatever, they have every right to do that,” DeWine said.
“If someone was stopped from doing that, or told they could not do that, that was wrong. It was nothing that I authorized.”
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the governor did not see the incident occur but heard a disturbance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.