A Black journalist handcuffed and detained by a Phoenix cop while doing his job has settled his lawsuit for $100,000.
Dion Rabouin was a Wall Street Journal reporter when he was standing outside of a Chase bank interviewing people walking into the bank about savings accounts on Nov. 23, 2022.
After speaking with him and learning he was a reporter, bank employees called police to have him removed.
Phoenix police officer Caleb Zimmerman arrived, demanded his identification and handcuffed him when Rabouin did not hand it to him, insisting he had broken no law.
But police never charged Rabouin with a crime.
“The elephant in the room is the fact that the City of Phoenix Police Department has been investigated by the Department of Justice,” Benjamin Taylor, the attorney representing Rabouin said in an interview with Atlanta Black Star.
“And the Department of Justice has found that they have racially profiled people and infringed on people’s First Amendment rights.”
Zimmerman claimed in his report that he had probable cause to arrest Rabouin based on the word of the bank employee. But Rabouin told the officer they never asked him to leave, only asked him what he was doing. He says he was unaware the sidewalk was private property.
Bodycam video shows Rabouin telling the officer he would leave the premises after learning someone had accused him of trespassing. The officer, however, insisted on identifying him before arresting him.
“Mr. Rabouin offered to leave to walk away, but this officer jumped the gun and was aggressive and started handcuffing him for no reason,” Taylor said.
The Phoenix City Council approved the settlement in a 9-0 vote on Sept. 9 but it also allows the city to not admit to wrongdoing.
A woman named Katelyn Parady began recording the interaction between Zimmerman and Rabouin, telling the cop the reporter had done nothing wrong.
But the officer also threatened to arrest her.
Rabouin filed a complaint with the Phoenix Police Department five days later, claiming the cop had used excessive force while unlawfully detaining him and had also racially profiled him.
But police cleared Zimmerman of all the allegations Rabouin made against him.
However, police determined the cop had violated the department’s search and seizure policy by removing the reporter’s wallet from his pocket, resulting in a written reprimand and remedial training.
Rabouin filed his lawsuit in November 2024, accusing Zimmerman of unlawfully detaining and searching him, and also accusing the bank employee of lying about asking him to leave – which was the basis of his detainment.
“At no point until then had Rabouin been asked to leave the sidewalk outside the bank by Chase personnel or anyone else,” the lawsuit states.
Bodycam video shows the bank employee, a white woman, telling Zimmerman they had asked him to leave, which Rabouin denied.
The footage also captures Rabouin offering to leave the area immediately, explaining to the officer that he had not realized the sidewalk outside the bank was private property.
“Instead, Zimmerman escalated the situation and decided to detain Rabouin,” the claim states.
“This lawsuit would never have had to happen if the officer would have had a simple conversation with Mr. Rabouin,” said Taylor, one of the most prominent Black attorneys in Arizona who has represented several high-profile cases over the years.
