The “Black Panther” director was in Atlanta, attempting to withdraw $12,000 from his account with Bank of America. The teller received an alert on his account, according to the police report obtained by CNN, because the amount was more than $10,000. The teller notified her superior that she thought Coogler was trying to rob the bank and 911 was called.
Coogler had written a note on the back of his withdrawal slip stating that he wanted the money to be counted discreetly, given the amount, according to the report.
When police arrived, two of Coogler’s colleagues, who were waiting for him in a parked vehicle outside the bank, were detained and placed in the back of a police car. Coogler was placed in handcuffs while police investigated the call. He was released shortly after they verified his identity, the police report states.
“This situation should never have happened. However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on,” Coogler said in a statement to Variety.
CNN has reached out to Coogler’s representative for comment.
“We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler,” Bank of America said in a statement to CNN.
Coogler was in Georgia at the time of the incident, working on production of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the sequel to his 2018 blockbuster.
Bank of America has apologized to the director Ryan Coogler after he was assumed to be a bank robber and briefly handcuffed by the police while trying to withdraw money from a branch in Atlanta in January.
Mr. Coogler, best known for directing “Black Panther,” had handed a teller a withdrawal slip on Jan. 7, asking for more than $10,000, with a note on the back asking her to “be discreet when handing him the cash,” according to a police report.
Mr. Coogler also had his California state ID card as well as his Bank of America card when he approached the teller. Both Mr. Coogler and the teller are Black.
The teller “received an alert notification” from Mr. Coogler’s account and quickly advised her manager that he was trying to rob the bank branch in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, the report states.
The police were called and when they arrived they found an S.U.V. parked in front of the bank.
The driver identified Mr. Coogler as a movie producer and said he was waiting for Mr. Coogler while he was making a transaction inside the bank. A woman who was a passenger in the S.U.V. gave the same information.
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The officers were given a description of Mr. Coogler that matched the description of the man who was reported to have been trying to rob the bank, the police said.
The officers said they detained the driver and passenger and placed them in a patrol car. They then removed Mr. Coogler from the bank in handcuffs and determined that he was not a bank robber, according to the police report.
The police confirmed that the episode resulted from a “mistake by Bank of America and that Mr. Coogler was never in the wrong,” according to the report, which adds that Mr. Coogler was immediately taken out of handcuffs and that the two others were taken out of the patrol car.
All three were “given an explanation of the incident as well as an apology for the mistake by the Bank of America,” the report states.
In body camera video released by the police, Mr. Coogler was shown sitting handcuffed in the back of a police car.
He explained that he had been withdrawing money to pay a medical assistant who works for his family. He said that he had passed a note asking for a discreet withdrawal because he doesn’t feel safe when he withdraws cash to pay her and has to wait as the bills are passed through a counting machine.
“I’m trying to get money out of my own account,” he told the police in the video. The teller “never said it was a problem,” Mr. Coogler said, adding that he had used his bank card and PIN and had given her his ID.
Mr. Coogler, who was wearing a cap, sunglasses and a mask, said that he was waiting for her to bring his money when he heard the sound of guns being taken out from their holsters as the police arrived.
“She got scared when a Black dude handed her a note,” Mr. Coogler said. “I don’t know what else to say.” He added, “If she was scared, she’s got to admit that.”
In a separate video released by the police, the teller told investigators that Mr. Coogler kept pointing to the note and, even though he handed her his ID, her “stomach started turning.” On her computer, the withdrawal was flagged as a “high-risk transaction,” she said. She said she told her manager, “I don’t feel comfortable about this transaction.”
The manager suggested they talk to the customer, but she was worried he might have a gun, she said, and so she called 911. She added that, as a pregnant woman: “I have to protect myself. I have to protect my child.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Coogler said, “This situation should never have happened.”
He added that Bank of America “worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”
Bank of America said in a statement: “We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened, and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.”
In addition to directing “Black Panther” (2018), Mr. Coogler also directed the “Rocky” spinoff “Creed” (2015) and “Fruitvale Station” (2013), which is about the fatal shooting of a Black man, Oscar Grant III, by a white police officer on a subway platform in Oakland, Calif., in 2009.
In 2019, “Black Panther” became the first Marvel film to secure an Oscar nomination for best picture. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won in three categories, including best original score and best costume design.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was mistaken for bank robber and ARRESTED after a passing note to pregnant Bank of America cashier asking them to withdraw $12,000 from his account and count it ‘discreetly’
Coogler walked into the Bank of America branch in Atlanta in January
He passed a note to the pregnant cashier asking for $12,000 in cash
He wrote: ‘Please do the money count somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet’
The bank teller mistook the incident for an attempted robbery and alerted police
Cops arrived and detained two people waiting for Coogler in an SUV outside
They then went inside and put the 35-year-old director in handcuffs
They let him go once they realized the incident was a misunderstanding
It remains unclear why Coogler needed $12,000 in cash
By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: | Updated:
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was mistaken for a bank robber and briefly arrested in January after walking into a Bank of America in Atlanta wearing sunglasses, a hat and a mask and asking the cashier to ‘discreetly’ withdraw $12,000 from his account.
The incident occurred sometime in January but was revealed by TMZ on Wednesday morning. Coogler, 35, walked into the bank wearing a green hoodie, black beanie and sunglasses.
He passed the cashier a note which read: ‘I would like to withdraw $12,000 CASH from my checking account.
It remains unclear why he needed the money, or why two others had driven him there in an SUV to retrieve it.
‘Please do the money count somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet.’
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was mistaken for a bank robber and briefly arrested in January after walking into a Bank of America in Atlanta wearing sunglasses, a hat and a mask and asking the cashier to ‘discreetly’ withdraw $12,000 from his account
The note spooked the cashier, who was described in the police report as a ‘pregnant black woman’.
She called police claiming Coogler was a bank robber.
Police arrived and detained two people who were waiting for him in an SUV parked outside.
TMZ reports that they then went inside the bank and placed Coogler in handcuffs too.
Once they realized it was a misunderstanding, they let him go.
Coogler was furious about the mistake and demanded the badge numbers of the cops involved, according to the report.
The movie director has been in Atlanta for the last several months filming the sequel to Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
He lives in California. Coogler told Variety this morning: ‘This situation should never have happened.
‘However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.’
The production has been besieged by cast injuries and vaccine rows.
Letitia Wright, who will reprise her role as Shuri, was severely injured while filming in August last year in Boston.
It is unclear what exactly happened, but the actress suffered a concussion and fractured shoulder while performing a stunt on-set.
In a note to the cast and crew in November last year, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito and Nate Moore of Marvel Studios called it a ‘frightening’ accident.
The sequel is due to be released on November 11, 2022. It will no doubt be a box office hit, following on from the record-breaking success of the first movie.
Fans are eager to see how the story will playout in the absence of Chadwick Boseman, the franchise’s beloved central star who died from cancer in August 2020.
The incident occurred in January at a Bank of America in Atlanta (file image)
Bank staffers mistakenly thought Ryan Coogler was staging a robbery, so they called cops, and the famed director actually ended up in handcuffs, briefly.
According to an Atlanta PD report, obtained by TMZ, Coogler was detained after stopping in a Bank of America to make a transaction back in January – a completely legal transaction but that’s not how one teller took it.
Coogler walked in rocking shades and a COVID face mask – not uncommon, of course – but he handed the teller a withdrawal slip that had a note written on the back.
We’re told his message read, “I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money count somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet.” Understandable, considering the amount of money he was getting but this led to the teller thinking something suspicious was going down, and cops were called for an attempted robbery.
When officers arrived, they detained 2 people waiting outside for Ryan in an SUV and then went in and brought the director himself out in handcuffs.
After an investigation, the police say this was all just a huge mistake and the fault lies with the BoA employee, who’s described in the report as a pregnant Black woman.
According to the report, when the teller went to make the transaction on her computer, it triggered some sort of an alert. So, she told her boss Coogler was attempting to rob the bank, and they called 911.
In the end, cops realized this was a screw-up, and Ryan had actually done nothing wrong. Sounds like Ryan wasn’t too pleased. The report notes he asked for badge numbers of all the responding officers once everyone was released.
He’s been in GA a lot over the past year, filming the sequel to “Black Panther,” which itself has been a drama-filled process with cast injuries and alleged COVID conspiracy talk. And now…this.
Eddie Murphy didn’t like Ryan Coogler’s idea for a sequel to his hit movie, “Coming to America.”
The movie would have starred Michael B. Jordan as Eddie Murphy’s son.
“I was like, then the movie would be about the son…not our characters,” Eddie Murphy recalled.
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Eddie Murphy is set to return with a sequel to his classic 1988 comedy “Coming to America” in March, but the actor recently revealed that “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler previously tried to revive the movie and pitched his own sequel, starring Michael B. Jordan.
In a new profile in The New York Times with his “Coming 2 America” co-star Arsenio Hall, Murphy said that he and the film’s producers “never thought about doing a sequel” to the film that follows Murphy’s Prince Akeem as he treks to America — Queens, New York specifically — to find his bride.
“The way the story ended was kind of like, ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ Then all this time passed and the movie became this cult thing,” Murphy said. “Catchphrases from the movie start working their way into the culture. Stores turning themselves into McDowell’s [where Prince Akeem worked.] I see Beyoncé and Jay-Z dressed up like the Zamunda characters for Halloween,” Murphy said, referencing the fictional African country where Prince Akeem hailed from.
But after Murphy began to receive pitches for a sequel from directors such as Coogler, he started to explore what a “Coming to America” sequel might look like.
“[Coogler] had an idea for Michael B. Jordan to play my son and he would be looking for a wife,” Murphy recalled. “I was like, then the movie would be about the son, it’s not our characters, we already did that. It didn’t come together.”
Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in “Coming 2 America.”
Amazon Prime Video
“But all that made me start thinking, maybe we should do a sequel,” Murphy continued.
“Coming 2 America” will debut on Amazon Prime Video on March 5. The comedy reunites Murphy with Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield, who wrote the original film. Craig Brewer, who worked with Murphy on 2019’s “Dolemite is My Name,” directed.
The film will see Murphy’s Prince Akeem return to New York City when he discovers that he has a long-lost son in Queens.
Originally, Murphy told the New York Times that he wanted Tracey Morgan to play his son. But as the film took longer to develop, it was no longer possible because of Morgan’s age.
“I’m like, I love Tracy and he’s the funniest guy in the world. But yo, Ed, y’all about the same age,” Hall, who plays Murphy’s onscreen best friend Semmi, said.
Morgan was instead cast as one of Lavelle’s uncles.
“Coming 2 America” will bring back many of the original film’s stars, including James Earl Jones, Shari Headley, John Amos and Garcelle Beauvais.
