More than 98,000 people have signed an online petition calling for an arrest Soho Karen is Mia Ponsetto After a black teen falsely accused her of stealing her iPhone.
The petition, published by Ben Cramp, a prominent civil rights attorney representing the Keon Harold Jr. family, comes with mounting calls for Manhattan attorneys to charge Ponsetto in the Dec. 26 incident at the Soho Hotel.
Kramp wrote online: “Keon Harold Jr. will live with this trauma for life, the weight of racism on the shoulders of another generation.” “He deserves better than this treatment!”
The petition is seeking 200,000 signatures.
Protesters this weekend, too They gathered outside a police station In Los Angeles, where Poncetto is now lying, and calls for her arrest in New York over the accident.
Harold, the 14-year-old son of jazz bassist Keon Harold Sr., was with his father at the Arlo Hotel when Ponsetto approached him She accused him of stealing her iPhone – which was later returned to her by an Uber driver.
During the meeting, Ponsetto was seen wrestling with the teenager.
Harold the Elder posted the video On his Instagram page.
Last week, New York Police officials said the case, which was originally classified as harassment, could be upgraded based on footage from the encounter, which shows Ponsetto grabbing the teen’s leg and trying to remedy it.
Crump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
