A broadcast reporter was pushed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for trespassing Wednesday while covering a news conference on the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio, the Associated Press reports. NewsNation posted video of correspondent Evan Lambert being arrested in the elementary school gymnasium in East Palestine where Gov. Mike DeWine was giving an update about the accident. Lambert was held for five hours before being released from jail,. “I’m doing fine right now. It’s been an extremely long day,” Lambert said. “No journalist expects to be arrested when you’re doing your job, and I think that’s really important that that doesn’t happen in our country.” DeWine said he didn’t authorize the arrest and reporters have “every right” to report during briefings.
“If someone was stopped from doing that, or told they could not do that, that was wrong,” DeWine said. DeWine didn’t see the incident because a bank of cameras blocked his view but he did hear a “disagreement toward the back of the gymnasium.” DeWine “has always respected the media’s right to report live before, during, and after his press briefings” his office said. Mike Viqueira, NewsNation’s Washington Bureau chief, called the arrest a violation of the First Amendment. The Washington, D.C.-based Lambert could still face charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, NewsNation said.