Joy Onuorah

Director of award-winning movie ‘Black Panther’, Ryan Coogler, was mistaken for a bank robber and briefly detained after trying to withdraw money from his bank account. The incident was said to have happened on January 7, 2022.

According to TMZ, the filmmaker was arrested by police in Atlanta after staffers of Bank of America mistakenly thought he was staging a robbery.

According to the Atlanta police report filed on Wednesday, Coogler had walked into the banking hall wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a COVID-19 face mask.

He thereafter handed the teller a withdrawal slip that had a rather ambiguous note written on its back.

The note written behind the slip read;

“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.” 

This led the teller to think something suspicious was at play and the police were called for an attempted robbery.

It is understood that, when the police arrived, they detained two people waiting outside for Coogler outside the bank in a car with the engine running.

They were also said to have then gone in and brought the movie director out in handcuffs.

After an investigation, the police described the development as “a huge mistake” and said the fault lies with the Bank of America employee who was described in the police report as a “pregnant black woman”.

The Bank of America has since apologized to the film director.

Coogler has been filming the sequel to the superhero tentpole, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” in Atlanta. The film is set for release in November.