Woman accused of assaulting teen over iPhone claims to be victim
The woman did not provide proof to back up her claims in a phone conversation with CNN
The woman who falsely accused the 14-year-old son of jazz musician
Keyon Harrold of stealing her iPhone and assaulting him is claiming she is the actual victim.
The 22-year-old white woman at the center of the incident at the Arlo SoHo Hotel in New York, which the family believed was racially motivated, reached out to
CNN to share her side of the incident that took place last weekend.
CNN chose not to publicly name the woman who claimed she was receiving death threats.
By Matthew Allen, TheGrio
On Saturday, a white woman frantically accused a Black teen of stealing her iPhone at a New York City hotel, only to discover moments later that it was left behind in an Uber.
The teen is the son of Grammy-award winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold, who captured the incident of the woman lunging at him and his son on video.
In the video, posted on Harrold’s Instagram page, the unidentified woman is seen urgently telling the hotel manager that the 14-year-old had taken her phone. As the teenager said, “this is my phone,” Harrold intervened, telling him: “You don’t have to explain nothing to her.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said: This is racism. Plain and simple. It would be horrific at any age, but it s especially offensive that it happened to a child, he said in a tweet.
Prosecutors in Manhattan are now investigating the incident.
In a statement, the parents of Keyon Harrold Jr and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump called on the Manhattan district attorney to bring assault and battery charges against the woman to send the message that hateful, racially motivated behaviour is unacceptable .
They also called for a civil rights investigation into the Arlo SoHo Hotel for its implicit bias in the way it treated Kenyon.
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On Saturday, a white woman frantically accused a Black teen of stealing her iPhone at a New York City hotel, only to discover moments later that it was left behind in an Uber.
The teen is the son of Grammy-award winning trumpet player
Keyon Harrold, who captured the incident of the woman apparently lunging at him and his son on video.
In the video, posted on Harrold’s Instagram page, the unidentified woman is seen telling the hotel manager that the 14-year-old had taken her phone. As the teenager said, “this is my phone,” Harrold intervened, telling him: “You don’t have to explain nothing to her.”