A cable news reporter pushed to the ground and handcuffed while covering a news conference got into a heated confrontation with the Ohio National Guard leader just before the reporter was arrested, body camera footage showed.
NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest on Wednesday after authorities said they told him to stop his live broadcast and then refused their orders to leave the press conference with the governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine.
Lambert later said that he was just trying to do his job.
Body camera footage released by the Ohio State Highway Patrol showed Maj. Gen. John Harris Jr., commander of the state’s national guard, speaking to a camera operator before a state trooper gestured to stop. take it live. Police said Lambert was speaking loudly while he was airborne from the back of the gym where DeWine was speaking at the same time.
Harris started to walk away before turning around, confronting and pointing a finger at Lambert and then briefly shoving the reporter with a hand to the chest, body camera video showed. Lambert was also pointing and talking to Harris. A state trooper then stepped between the two and pulled the commander away, the video showed.
Harris later told police that the reporter was approaching him aggressively and that he felt threatened.
Body camera footage of Ohio police arresting NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert has been released. (Ohio State Highway Patrol via AP)
“I instinctively put my hands on his chest to prevent him from colliding with me, which I felt was inevitable had he not protected me,” Harris said in a statement to investigators provided by his office. On Thursday he declined to comment beyond his statements to police.
Authorities said that after the confrontation, Lambert was told to leave the press conference, but he refused multiple times. The officers then dragged him towards the exit and told him that he was under arrest.
Body camera footage showed Lambert walking away from two officers who then pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him.
“This is what it’s like to be a black reporter in 2023,” Lambert said while being held, according to the footage.
The two officers who handcuffed Lambert are white, as is the Columbiana County sheriff who ordered Lambert to leave. Both Lambert and Harris, the National Guard commander who is a member of the governor’s cabinet, are black.
Lambert and NewsNation officials did not say in their subsequent statements that race was a factor in the arrest.
Lambert, who spent about five hours in jail before being released on bail, said “no journalist expects to be arrested when they’re doing their job, and I think it’s very important that that doesn’t happen in our country.”
Michael Corn, NewsNation’s news president, said Friday that the videos and body camera images of the arrest speak for themselves.
“Evan acted professionally, and at the very least, he is owed an apology,” Corn said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
DeWine, who as governor was at the news conference giving an update on the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals, said he did not authorize the arrest or see the disagreement, adding that reporters have “every right” to report during the information sessions.
