Phoenix Police Investigate Their Detention of a Wall Street Journal Reporter

He told the television station that he was working on a story and that he was looking for real people, not experts and economists. He did not identify the nature of the story.

He said that he had been standing on the sidewalk next to the building when bank employees came outside to ask what he was doing. Mr. Rabouin told ABC15 that he had identified himself as a journalist and that no one had asked him to leave.

Shortly after, Mr. Rabouin said, a police officer showed up. He said that he had offered to leave but that the officer grabbed him and told him, “This can get bad for you if you don’t comply.”

Maura Cordova, a spokeswoman for Chase Bank, would not comment further on the details surrounding Mr. Rabouin’s detainment.

“We apologize to Mr. Rabouin,” she said on Sunday. “I have nothing else to add.”

According to the letter sent by The Journal’s editor in chief, Matt Murray, Mr. Rabouin had been interviewing passers-by on a public sidewalk outside the bank when he was approached by an officer, who told Mr. Rabouin that he was trespassing.

“At no point until then had Mr. Rabouin been asked to leave the sidewalk outside the bank by Chase personnel or anyone else,” Mr. Murray said, adding that Mr. Rabouin had a “clear right” to be present on the sidewalk while reporting.

He said that Mr. Rabouin offered to leave but was then handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle. Footage showed that Mr. Rabouin kept “a calm and professional demeanor throughout the episode,” Mr. Murray said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/business/media/wall-street-journal-reporter-phoenix-police.html