Teller Thought ‘Black Panther’ Director Was Trying To Rob Bank in Atlanta
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Filmmaker Ryan Coogler who directed Disney/Marvel’s box office blockbuster Black Panther was mistaken and arrested for robbing a bank in Atlanta in January.
[Coogler] was mistaken for a bank robber at an Atlanta branch of Bank of America and was briefly handcuffed before local police officers realized he “was never in the wrong.”
The Atlanta police department admitted that Coogler’s detention was a case of mistaken identity and Bank of America said it had apologized to the Hollywood director. Coogler, in turn, has accepted that apology. “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 obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
An Atlanta police report also obtained by THR recounts how, on Jan. 7, 2022, Coogler and two associates parked outside the bank in a running car were briefly detained by officers called to the scene. That call was prompted by Coogler having innocently given a female bank teller a “withdrawn slip with note written on the back of the withdrawn slip to be discreet when handing him the cash.”
“We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler,” Bank of America told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement about the January incident in Atlanta.
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, mind you, 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.
