Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Wednesday that the criminal charges filed against NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert have been dismissed.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Section was appointed by the Columbiana County Prosecuting Attorney to handle the charges filed in Columbiana County Municipal Court.
"My office has reviewed the relevant video and documentary evidence, and is dismissing the charges against Evan Lambert as unsupported by sufficient evidence," Yost said in a statement.
"While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them. The reporter was lawfully present at a press conference called by the Governor of the state. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter," he said.
Yost added that tensions were running high in the days following the derailment and that local officials appeared to be following the lead of the National Guard.
"Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter," Yost said. "Ohio protects a free press under its constitution, and state officials should remember to exercise a heightened level of restraint in using arrest powers."
Lambert was arrested and then jailed for five hours on Feb. 8 after authorities said he was told to stop his live broadcast and refused their orders to leave the news conference with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. He was charged with resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor, and criminal trespass, a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
In a statement of his own shared to Twitter Wednesday, Lambert thanked DeWine, Yost, his employer and "anyone else who worked to secure my release and the eventual dismissal of my charges, which to be clear should have never been filed in the first place."
"I will also continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public. I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard," Lambert added.
Body-camera footage showed Lambert had a heated confrontation with Maj. Gen. John Harris Jr., commander of the Ohio National Guard, just before he was arrested by a sheriff's deputy and an East Palestine police officer. Police said Lambert was talking loudly while on the air from the back of the gym while DeWine was speaking at the same time.
The video showed Harris confronting and pointing a finger at Lambert and then briefly pushing the reporter with one hand in the chest. Lambert also was pointing and talking to Harris until a state trooper stepped in between the two and moved away the commander, the footage showed.
Lambert later pulled away from two officers who then pushed him to the floor and handcuffed him, the video showed.
"This is what it’s like to be a Black reporter in 2023," Lambert said while he was being held down.
The two officers who handcuffed Lambert are White, as is the Columbiana County sheriff who ordered Lambert to leave. Both Lambert and Harris, the national guard commander who is a member of the governor’s cabinet, are Black.
Lambert said in his statement Wednesday that he was still processing what was a traumatic event "in the context of a time where we are hyper aware of how frequently some police interactions with people of color can end in much worse circumstances."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a statement Tuesday providing an update on the derailment cleanup.
"EPA Region 5’s number one priority is – and will always be – the health and safety of communities across the region. That’s why as soon as EPA was notified of the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Friday, February 3, EPA personnel were on-site by 2 a.m. Saturday morning to assist with air monitoring. Since then, EPA has been boots-on-the-ground, leading robust air-quality testing – including with the state-of-the-art ASPECT plane and a mobile analytical laboratory – in and around East Palestine," the statement said.
Since the fire went out on Feb. 8, EPA air monitoring "has not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment," it added. "As of February 14, EPA has assisted with the screening of 396 homes under a voluntary screening program offered to residents, and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified. 65 additional homes are scheduled for today. We are continuing to conduct 24/7 air-monitoring to ensure the health and safety of residents."
Despite being assured air and water is safe in the area, residents have reported sudden illnesses themselves and the death of livestock and fish.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
