Phoenix settles with Wall Street Journal reporter who filed excessive force complaint

The city of Phoenix approved a settlement Wednesday with a Wall Street Journal reporter who filed an excessive force complaint against a police officer in November 2022.

Dion Rabouin filed the complaint with the Phoenix Police Department’s Professional Standard Bureau after claiming Officer Caleb Zimmerman used excessive force while unlawfully detaining him. He claimed the officer detained him based on his race and threatened to assault him if he did not comply.

“At the time, Dion Rabouin was a Wall Street Journal reporter. He was doing a financial report, so he was outside the bank asking people about different financial issues, … and this officer saw him and instead of letting him walk away and leave, he just became aggressive,” Benjamin Taylor, the attorney who represented Rabouin, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday. “Dion was calm, he was polite, he didn’t break any laws at all, but this officer decided to go over and take him and put him in handcuffs for no apparent reason.”

The city voted unanimously to pay Rabouin $100,000 to resolve the claim.

“Dion is satisfied that his case is resolved. This has definitely traumatized him. Any time a person gets arrested and put in handcuffs, that traumatizes you,” Taylor said. “So, he hopes that the city of Phoenix will train their officer to better serve the community to learn about people’s First Amendment rights, especially reporters. He wants to make sure that reporters are not arrested in the future and harassed for doing their jobs.”

Phoenix PD previously conducted investigation into excessive force complaint

The police department completed an internal investigation into the incident in August 2023 and said in a news release that it found the allegations of unlawful detention, detention based on race and use of excessive force “were unfounded.”

However, it did discover that the officer identified Rabouin by removing his wallet from his pocket, which violated the department’s search and seizure policy.

Due to the complaint, the department also revised its trespassing policy to clarify when to detain and arrest people for trespassing.

“The city reviewed it and the Office of Accountability and Transparency through the city reviewed it, and they suspended the officer,” Taylor said.

Additionally, the department said the officer was required to receive training instead of being given a written reprimand due to its policy lacking clarity.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report. 

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