'KAREN' UNMASKED
‘SoHo Karen’ revealed as ex-cheerleader Miya Ponsetto, 22, after vid of her tackling black boy, 14, she accused of theft
A WOMAN dubbed "SoHo Karen" has been revealed as ex-cheerleader Miya Ponsetto after footage showed her tackling a black boy she accused of theft.
NYPD sources have reportedly identified 22-year-old - who is believed to be from Sun Valley, California - as the woman caught on camera tackling a black teen in New York City.
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The cited public records which revealed there is only one US citizen with the name Miya Ponsetto – a young woman who closely resembles "Soho Karen."
The New York Post discovered photos of Ponsetto online, which appeared to be professional snaps of a Simi Valley High School varsity cheerleader.
However, when The Post reportedly asked about the photos, the website blocked them from being accessed without a password.
Video of the shocking moment revealed "SoHo Karen" tackling a 14-year-old black teen she falsely accused of stealing her iPhone, a lawyer claims.
Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Keyon Harrold Jr's parents, shared footage on Wednesday of the 14-year-old being "assaulted" inside the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan, , on Saturday afternoon.
"Help [the NYPD] find the woman who after falsely accusing the innocent teen of stealing her phone," Crump captioned the Instagram clip.
"This newly released footage of the attack clearly shows her assaulting Keyon before she fled the hotel prior to police arriving on scene!
"My clients, [Katty Rodriguez] and [Keyon Harrold] are overcome with emotions after seeing how their 14 year old son was assaulted in such an outrageous manner."
The woman, revealed to be Ponsetto, is being called a “,” a pejorative term for an entitled white woman.
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Rodriguez is a saxophonist for and Harrold is a trumpeter, producer, and composer who has played with artists including , and.
In the disturbing footage their lawyer posted to , a woman wearing a white baseball cap can be seen chasing and lunging at a person identified as Harrold Jr in the lobby.
The video of her running after him and tackling him to the floor soon amassed 58,962 views.
The 22-year-old woman spoke in a 20-minute phone call with on Tuesday, but the news outlet did not reveal the interviewee to be Ponsetto.
Ponsetto said that she was assaulted and would provide evidence to back up her claim, but stopped responding to the media outlet’s calls and messages afterward.
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Jazz musician Harrold (Sr) recorded a video that he posted on , of the young woman accusing his son of stealing her phone.
The woman is captured screaming at Harrold (Sr)’s son and demanding that the hotel manager take the teen's phone away from him.
“Take the case off that’s mine, literally get it back,” the woman tells the manager, to which Harrold replies: “You think there’s only one iPhone made in the world?”
She asked the hotel manager to force the teenager to show the phone in his pocket, and the footage showed her appearing to lunge at the father and son as they tried to walk away before she fell to the ground.
“No, please get my phone back,” the woman pleads to the manager, who helps her up.
Harrold wrote on Instagram on Sunday that the hotel informed him that an driver dropped off the woman’s phone shortly after the confrontation.
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"This incident went on for five more minutes, me protecting my son from this lunatic. She scratched me; she Tackled and grabbed him. He is a child!!!" he claimed.
The video went viral over the weekend. The Manhattan district attorney’s office told New York Magazine that it is also investigating the incident.
Crump, that they want the district attorney’s office to press assault and battery charges on the woman who “falsely accused” the teenager of stealing her phone.
He specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases and leads the family's legal team.
In her interview with CNN, of the incident.
Ponsetto said that she first demanded to see the hotel’s surveillance videos and then asked someone in the lobby to “empty their pocket.”
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She said she then approached Harrold Jr, believing he had taken her phone and recalled "that's when everything got a little bit more serious."
Asked if she was worried she could face charges, Ponsetto replied: “Of course I worry. That's not who I am. I actually ... try very hard to make sure that I am always doing the right thing.”
The woman rambled during some parts of the call and included details that were not linked to the incident and unconfirmed by the news outlet.
She said she was willing to speak with the Harrolds, as well as cooperate with the NYPD investigation.
Instagram user Cassandra Medina – who posted a photo at the hotel six days ago – denies being the “Karen” in Harrold Sr’s video.
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“I’ve been tagged all morning in this video and this is not me,” Medina wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “It’s not OK to be falsely accused on social media and I wouldn’t want that happening to anyone.”
Medina's bio now reads: "THAT PERSON IN THE VIDEO IS NOT ME" and she issued a statement on Thursday morning, saying she "wouldn't be caught dead or alive accusing/hurting another person."
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office is “thoroughly investigating” the confrontation, according to a spokesman.
Investigators are weighing whether they will press charges of assault, grand larceny or attempted theft against Ponsetto.
NYPD’s chief of detectives, Rodney Harrison, said authorities were not planning to charge the woman with bias “at this time."
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"The investigation is still preliminary, a lot of work still needs to be done," Harrison said.
"The complainants are cooperating and I'm confident that the investigators from the first precinct will make an arrest on this case sooner than later.”
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Cops investigating 'SoHo Karen' after she falsely accused black teen of stealing her phone
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