Officers approached Coogler with their guns drawn in the Atlanta bank.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was left shaken following a misunderstanding that led police officers to arrest him on suspicion of being a potential bank robber.
The Oscar nominated director and producer was arrested in a Bank of America branch in Atlanta in January.
Bodycam footage of the arrest was published on Wednesday (9 March)
The footage shows Coogler looking confused as officers entered the building to detain him.
“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” Coogler is heard saying as an officer pulls a firearm from his holster.
Coogler immediately complies with officers, while asking them “Is there any reason y’all doing this, bro?”.
Coogler had attempted to withdraw $12,000 (€10,919) from his account, and had passed the teller a note so as to be discreet about the large sum of cash being withdrawn.
The bank teller misinterpreted the notes and thought that Coogler was a potential bank robber, who alerted her manager, who in turn, alerted Atlanta Police Department.
Coogler had withdrawn the money to pay for a medical assistant who prefers to be paid in cash, and so went to take the money from his personal account.
Police acknowledged that a mistake was made, and Coogler was released without charge.
“I stated to the officers – that had arrested me – that had their Glocks out – that I was pulling the money out of my own account,” Coogler explained.
“I put my own bank card in there before the lady went into the back.”
Atlanta Police explained that their process is to “detain, and ask questions later” when dealing with a potential incident.
The Oakland based director is currently working on the post-production of the Black Panther sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The film is set to arrive in cinemas by the end of the year.
