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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Cell phone video shows a woman falsely accusing a Black teen of stealing her iPhone at a New York City hotel.
It happened at the Arlo Hotel in SoHo on Dec. 26. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday called the incident racist, CBS2’s Dick Brennan reported.
“This is my phone,” 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. is heard saying.
“You don’t have to explain nothing to her,” Keyon Harrold Sr. says.
“Take the case off, that’s mine, literally. Get it back please,” the unidentified woman wearing a mask says.
She was accusing the teen of theft.
Harrold Sr., a Grammy-winning jazz musician, recorded the confrontation on his phone.
Later, he tweeted a video saying the woman tackled her son and called the incident an assault.
“I’m a trumpet player, so now my hand’s bleeding because I’m trying to protect my son because of a crazy person saying he took her iPhone, and tying to go in his pocket, trying to go into my pockets,” said Harrold Sr.
A short time after the incident, an Uber driver who found the woman’s phone in his car returned it to the hotel.
“This is racism. Plain and simple. It would be horrific at any age, but it’s especially offensive that it happened to a child,” Mayor de Blasio wrote on Twitter.
“To Keyon Harrold Jr. and his family: I am so sorry this happened to you. Her behavior was an affront to our city’s values,” the mayor’s tweet continued.
Attorney Benjamin Crump added that he wants Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance to charge the woman.
“This is unacceptable, unacceptable. On a day when I’m just trying to have a good time with my son, right here. Unacceptable,” Harrold Sr. said.
The hotel has apologized to the Harrolds, but the woman reportedly has not.
The Manhattan DA is said to be investigating.
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