NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A notable Jazz musician is calling on the Manhattan district attorney’s office to bring charges against a white woman who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone.
Jazz musician Keyon Harrold says a woman accosted his 14-year-old son in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in SoHo on Saturday.
The incident was captured on cell phone video, which Harrold posted on his Instagram page.
According to the musician, the woman demanded to see the 14-year-old’s phone and said he was not leaving until he proved it wasn’t hers.
Video shows the woman pointing at the teen and trying to reach for the cell phone.
“This incident went on for five more minutes, me protecting my son from this lunatic,” Harrold wrote. “She scratched me; she Tackled and grabbed him. He is a child!!!”
The video quickly went viral and sparked a conversation about how black people are treated and perceived.
Many commenters even compared the confrontation to a recent incident in New York City in which a white woman called police to report that she was being threatened by a Black man who was in Central Park bird watching.
The hotel later posted a statement issuing an apology and said what happened was inexcusable.
“We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice, and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo Hotel. In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence,” the hotel said.
The statement continued: “No Arlo guest – or any person – should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience.”
The woman, who has not been identified was not a guest at the hotel and her cell phone was later discovered in an Uber.
Harrold and civil rights attorney Ben Crump issued a statement Monday, calling on the Manhattan district attorney to bring assault and battery charges against the woman “to send the message that hateful, racially motivated behavior is unacceptable.”
“As this year of racial awareness is drawing to a close, it’s deeply troubling that incidents like this one, in which a Black child is viewed as and treated like a criminal, continue to happen,” read the statement.
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