Video: US Reporter Arrested During Ohio Governor’s Conference on Palestine Train Derailment
02:53 GMT 09.02.2023 (Updated: 09:33 GMT 16.02.2023)
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At the time of the arrest, the governor was speaking about a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the evacuation orders he put into place after hazardous chemicals aboard the train caught fire.
NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was arrested on Wednesday while covering a news conference held by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine about a severe train derailment that occurred the week prior.
Lambert was giving a live report on the conference for NewsNation’s “Rush Hour" program. According to the station, Lambert was supposed to go live hours after the conference but it was delayed from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time, the same time Lambert was scheduled to go live.
Lambert stayed at the back of the high school gymnasium where the governor was speaking but was told to be quiet by police. Lambert complied with the order and quickly ended his broadcast, sending it back to the station.
The police arrested him moments later, something that DeWine was quick to point out he did not order. “If someone was stopped from [talking to a camera], or told they could not do that, that was wrong. It was nothing that I authorized,” he told reporters, adding “I don’t know all the facts but he or she, whoever was arrested, had a right to be reporting and do what they do every single day.”
BREAKING: @EvanLambertTV, a DC-based correspondent for @NewsNation, has been in Ohio covering the train crash. He was doing a live shot in the back of the room during a press conference-was told to stop by police, was pushed to the ground, cuffed & arrested & put in a patrol car. pic.twitter.com/RZv6nT7j8o
— NewsNation PR (@NewsNationPR) February 8, 2023
Videos posted on the network’s social media and broadcast showed police with Lambert on the ground in handcuffs, before police picked him up and walked him to a police car.
“From their standpoint he didn’t obey orders when he was told to stop talking,” Preston Swigart, a photographer working with Lambert 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.”
Law enforcement officers told the outlet that Lambert would be held overnight and the earliest he could be released would be at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. He is being charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
Mike Viqueira, NewsNation’s Washington bureau chief, condemned the arrest.
“I was watching the press conference stream … and the only thing I heard that was disruptive was when this altercation with the police — which apparently they have instigated — was unfolding,” Viqueria said. “I did not hear anything of Evan’s voice when he was quietly speaking on live television. … As his boss, as his colleague, as a fellow journalist, it’s really infuriating.”
During the conference, DeWine ended the evacuation order he put into place after the train derailment. Roughly 5,000 people had been ordered to leave their homes after the train, which included at least ten cars carrying hazardous chemicals, derailed and caught fire around 9 p.m. on Friday in East Palestine, Ohio.
DEVELOPING: officials confirm a train derailment in East Palestine; witness tells 21 News it's not clear what the train is carrying but that it's something flammable; we're working to learn more pic.twitter.com/aWQuF4LpAT
— Chris Cerenelli (@ChrisWFMJ) February 4, 2023
There have been no reported injuries to residents, the train’s crew, or first responders but authorities warned that the burning vinyl chloride in some of the derailed cars would send dangerous chemicals into the air.
An East Palestine business owner and two other residents are suing the train company, Norfolk Southern, alleging negligence and exposure to toxic chemicals.
UPDATE: Lambert was released on Wednesday night. Appearing on NewsNation after his release, Lambert said that he could not talk much about the incident because his charges are still pending but stated that he was "Just trying to do my job ... that's what it is all about protecting the first amendment and democracy and trying to help people get information."
VIDEO: @NewsNation correspondent @EvanLambertTV gives first interview with @TVAshleigh since being released from jail; he still faces criminal charges after being arrested at a press conference this afternoon. (Video: NewsNation) https://t.co/oLzNl819if pic.twitter.com/JCShvRC7xl
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) February 9, 2023
