“I’m confused,” said Keon Harold Jr.. “I don’t mean what would have happened if my dad hadn’t been there, honestly. These last few days are still a kind of shell-shock. But I’m stuck there.”
He appeared with his father – Grammy-winning jazz musician Keon Harold – along with his mom Kate Rodriguez and their attorney Ben Krump, who called a Manhattan district attorney to bring charges against the woman.
The incident, recorded on a cellphone video, took place on Saturday in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel, where the teenager and his father were staying as guests. Apparently she referred to the cell phone and the unidentified woman repeatedly demanded “give it back”.
Watch the video posted on social media below:
The woman’s cell phone was later found in an Uber.
“For me, I was confused because I had never seen that woman, and I don’t know what to do at the moment,” Harold Jr. said. “First of all I apologize. And two, I ask her why she would do this to a child who will never meet you?”
The video has since gone viral and he has made racial profiling allegations against Harold and his family.
Physically, once they landed in the lobby, the woman was “immediately asking for his phone,” Harold Sr. said.
“But after the video stopped and, I mean he basically coped, he scratched me, and I was there, you know, try to save my little kid.” “And basically trying to keep him away, keep him away from my son. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t been with him.”
See: Harold family speaks to GMA:
He also said they were thrown out that the hotel representative was “basically by his side” on his son.
“I just wouldn’t stand for it,” he said. “I’m still in shock. I’m trying to believe, you know, it happened so fast … it’s just unbelievable that someone would have the courage to literally assume and falsely accuse.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio also said of the incident, “It’s racist. Plain and simple.”
“It would be horrible at any age, but it’s especially outrageous that it happened to a child,” he wrote on Twitter. “For Keon Harold Jr. and his family: I’m sorry that this happened to you. Her behavior contradicts the values of our city.”
This is racism. Plain and simple.
It will be horrible at any age, but it is especially offensive that it happened to a child.
To Keon Harold Jr. and his family: I’m sorry that this happened to you. Her behavior is contrary to the values of our city. https://t.co/xuWRyHTJmW
– Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCmeyer) December 29, 2020
Harold said his son is still shaken by the incident.
“He wanted to know how it was his fault,” Harold said. “Basically my conversation is to tell him that son, you are the only one, you know, continue the way you live. We have to do things. We have to change the story. We have to change the laws. We have to do things that you Literally an American little boy, a 14-year-old minor who you are, has your rights. You have the same rights as anyone else who walks the streets. “
Rodriguez, who was not present at the time, said he was still waiting to hear from the woman who wanted to come forward and explain herself.
“Fear came in because my son, if his father hadn’t been there, what would have happened to my son if the police had been called.” “When my son asked me, ‘Why me, mom?’ That just hurt.
The confrontation encouraged a comparison of recent incidents of false accusations against black people. In May, a black birdwatcher pulled out his phone in Central Park and caught a white woman calling police that she was being threatened by an “African-American man.”
Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump Manhattan D.A. Psy is urging Vance to lay charges against the woman in the video.
“We want a charge because we have to send a message because this has a huge impact on society,” he said. “Think how many black men have been falsely accused by this Karen and they lose their freedom and lose their lives in prison.”
New York City police did not identify the woman, only said there was a complaint of harassment in the file for an incident that occurred Saturday inside the hotel. A spokesman for Vance said the FIS was conducting a full investigation into the incident but did not elaborate.
The hotel management said in a post on Sunday that they had reached out to Harold and his son to apologize.
“We are disappointed by the recent incident of baseless allegations, prejudice and assault against an innocent guest at the Arlo Hotel,” he said on Facebook.
(This report is contributed by the Associated Press.)
More news: Families warn of short visit after losing mother and father before Christmas days
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