NewsNation reporter arrested while covering Ohio governor news conference

NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert settled his arrest-related claims against the Ohio city of East Palestine and surrounding Columbiana County for $80,0000 on Jan. 30, 2024, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

The defendants, who denied liability, also agreed to pay Lambert an additional $32,000 in attorneys fees and costs, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which represented Lambert, confirmed to the Tracker.

Lambert dismissed his claims alleging battery, false arrest, interference with newsgathering and retaliation against a sheriff, a chief deputy, a police chief and a detective, per the agreement. He also voluntarily dropped related claims against the head of the Ohio National Guard.

Lambert had been ordered to stop reporting and leave a news conference with Ohio’s governor in February 2023. When he refused, officers forced him to the ground, pinning him on his stomach while handcuffing him, then detained him for five hours and charged him with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.

The charges were dismissed less than a week later. Lambert sued in November 2023 for First and Fourth amendment rights violations.

"We're glad to have helped Evan obtain swift accountability––including a substantial judgment against the City and County––for an egregious arrest that never should have taken place,” Katie Townsend, deputy executive director and legal director for the Reporters Committee, said in a statement emailed to the Tracker. “We hope this serves as a reminder to law enforcement in Ohio and elsewhere that reporters must be free to do their jobs without fear of arrest or other official retaliation.”

NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert filed a lawsuit on Nov. 13, 2023, alleging battery, false arrest, interference with newsgathering and retaliation when he was detained in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 8.

Lambert was covering a press conference with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine about cleanup efforts around a recent train derailment when officers approached him, ordering him first to stop his live report and, after he had done so, to leave the school gymnasium.

When Lambert refused, officers forcibly moved him to the doors and onto the ground, pinning him on his stomach while handcuffing him. After being detained for five hours, Lambert was released on charges of fourth-degree criminal trespassing and second-degree resisting arrest. The charges were dismissed less than a week later.

Lambert’s lawsuit names Columbiana County and its sheriff and chief deputy; the city of East Palestine, its police chief and one of its detectives; and the head of the Ohio National Guard.

“Mr. Lambert brings this action to redress his injuries and to ensure that he and other journalists covering matters of public concern in Ohio in the future can gather the news and inform the public safely,” states the lawsuit, brought on his behalf by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment Clinic at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

The suit seeks damages for violations of his First and Fourth Amendment rights, as well as an injunction barring Columbiana County or the city of East Palestine from further retaliation against Lambert.

On Feb. 15, 2023, the Ohio attorney general announced that charges against NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert had been dismissed.

Lambert had been pinned to the ground and arrested a week earlier while covering Gov. Mike DeWine’s press conference about a train derailment. He was charged with fourth-degree criminal trespassing and second-degree resisting arrest.

In a multi-page statement posted on Twitter, Lambert said that he was still processing the event but was grateful to those who worked to secure his release and the dismissal of the charges.

“I am doing alright. And I will be OK,” Lambert wrote. “I will also continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public.”

Lambert’s attorney Frank Cassese said in a statement to NewsNation that the entire situation should have been avoided, but Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s swift action was appreciated.

A day after NewsNation Correspondent Evan Lambert was arrested in Ohio at a news conference with the governor, multiple law enforcement agencies published statements about the sequence of events. NewsNation published body camera footage from a state highway patrol trooper as well as statements from its president of news, D.C. bureau chief and Lambert’s attorney.

The East Palestine Police Department statement clarified which law enforcement agencies were involved. It stated that two highway patrol troopers and the head of the Ohio National Guard approached Lambert and told him to stop his live reporting. Multiple officers with the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office and EPPD then became involved as the situation escalated.

Both EPPD and the state National Guard statements describe Lambert as disruptive and that he repeatedly ignored requests to leave the gymnasium. The head of the Ohio National Guard also asserted that Lambert became agitated and enraged.

Lambert’s attorney dismissed the claims that the correspondent was the aggressor as patently false.

“It is our position that the numerous videos of the incident, as recorded by bystanders, speak for themselves,” attorney Frank Cassese said in his statement to NewsNation.

Cassese added that charging Lambert is “a futile attempt by law enforcement to justify their inexcusable interference with Mr. Lambert performing his duties as a journalist.”

According to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, EPPD charged Lambert with fourth-degree criminal trespassing and second-degree resisting arrest, not disorderly conduct as initially reported by NewsNation. If convicted, Lambert faces up to 120 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Gov. Mike DeWine told NewsNation that he was shocked by Lambert’s arrest and that he had not authorized it.

“I don’t want to see him in jail, I don’t want to see him prosecuted. But for me to say I know what happened would simply not be the truth,” DeWine said. “No one ever wants to see a reporter who is doing their job handcuffed and arrested. I don’t like it at all.”

The governor has not called for the charges to be dropped.

Lambert was released several hours after his arrest after paying a $750 bail bond, and has an arraignment scheduled for Feb. 23.