Los Angeles: A California woman seen on video tackling a Black teenager whom she falsely accused of stealing her phone at a Manhattan hotel was arrested Thursday in her home state. Miya Ponsetto was confirmed as the woman in the December 26 video by her attorney, Sharen Ghatan. She was jailed Thursday night in Ventura County, California, booking documents show. The New York Police Department sent detectives out to speak with her earlier Thursday.
Ghatan said Ponsetto is ‘emotionally unwell’ and remorseful after the conflict at the Arlo Hotel in lower Manhattan between her and 14-year-old Keyon Harrold (Jr). The altercation was recorded by Harrold’s father, jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and put online.
In his video, an agitated woman is seen demanding her phone be returned while a hotel manager tries to settle the situation. Security video later released by the NYPD shows the woman frantically chasing down the teen as he tried to exit the hotels front door. She’s seen grabbing him from behind before both tumble to the ground. Harrold has said the phone was returned by an Uber driver shortly afterward.
The altercation drew comparisons to cases like that of Amy Cooper, a white woman who was charged with filing a false report for calling 911 and saying she was being threatened by ‘an African American man’ during a dispute in New York’s Central Park in May.
Harrold has called on the Manhattan district attorney to bring assault and battery charges against Ponsetto.
Ghatan said early Thursday she had not been in contact with anyone from the NYPD. She said she spoke to her client, who lives near here Thursday, and that ‘she strikes me as someone who’s unwell’. She said Ponsetto ‘lashed out’ over worry about her phone disappearing, and that it wasn’t racially motivated.
