Ryan Coogler, the award-winning director of “Black Panther,” was detained by police at an Atlanta area bank after he tried to withdraw $12,000 from his personal account because bank employees thought they were being robbed, Variety reports.
Coogler was handcuffed and detained on January 7th after he handed a bank teller a completed withdrawal form containing his account information, signature and amount requested. On the back of the slip was a message: “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.”
The withdraw triggered an alert on Coogler’s account because the amount exceeded $10,000, and the teller took the alert as a sign of a robbery. Coogler, dressed in a cap and a coronavirus face mask, waited in the bank, but four Atlanta officers arriving detained two of Coogler’s friends who were waiting in a running car on the street.
All three of the men are Black. Coogler is in Atlanta filming the sequel to the hit superhero movie, called “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
“This situation should never have happened,” Coogler said. “However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”