Black Panther Director Ryan Coogler Gets Mistaken for Bank Robber

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. 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.- NY TIMES