NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The woman who falsely accused a Black teenager of stealing her cell phone inside a Manhattan hotel in a now-viral video has spoken out for the first time since the incident took place.
In a phone interview with CNN on Tuesday, the woman said she asked another person in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in SoHo to “empty their pocket” before she began to confront jazz musician Keyon Harrod’s 14-year-old son about her missing phone.
“That’s when everything got a little bit more serious,” the woman said, according to the outlet. CNN withheld the woman’s name “because she said she has concerns for her safety unrelated to this incident.”
The woman went on to provide a “rambling” explanation of what happened that day, the outlet reported. She did say she was worried about the charges she may face in connection with the incident.
“Of course I worry,” she told the outlet. “That’s not who I am. I actually… try very hard to make sure that I am always doing the right thing.”
The woman said the NYPD has yet to contact her, despite the fact that the department’s Chief of Detectives said she will likely be charged with assault in connection with the altercation.
In an Instagram caption accompanying a cell phone video of the incident, Harrod said the woman attacked him and grabbed his son after accusing the boy of stealing her iPhone.
“I’m not letting him walk away with my phone!” the woman can be heard saying in Harrod’s video.
An Uber driver returned the woman’s phone to the hotel after the incident, the Associated Press reported.
Both the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office have said they are investigating the incident.