Reporter arrested during Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's East Palestine train derailment news conference
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A reporter was arrested while covering a news conference on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing after being arrested Wednesday during Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's news conference.
Video shows authorities taking Lambert out of the gym where the news conference was happening and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him. He was then escorted out of the building to a police car.
"Doing a live shot gets you arrested in America in 2023," Lambert said while being escorted out.
"I got arrested because I was trying to do a live report about what people need to know," he added.
Lambert was reportedly in the middle of a live shot during the news conference and told to be quiet because DeWine was speaking.
During the news conference, DeWine said he did not order the arrest and condemned it.
"It's always been my practice that if I'm doing a press conference, someone wants to report out there and they want to be talking to the people back on channel whatever, they have every right to do that," he said. "If someone was stopped from doing that or told they could not do that, that was wrong. It was nothing that I authorized and certainly, it would be something that I would not want to see happen."
The Columbiana County Jail said East Palestine police officers arrested Lambert, who was released from jail late Wednesday night. He will face a judge on Thursday.
"I'm doing fine right now," Lambert said in a video released by NewsNation. "And it's been an extremely long day. I have to be careful about what I say, but as you can see I'm out. ... I was just trying to do my job, as I am continuing to do now."