Ben Crump is demanding that charges are pressed against the woman who attacked a 14-year-old at a hotel in New York. He is wanting assault charges against the woman.
What We Know:
- Keyon Harrold, an acclaimed jazz musician, said his 14-year-old son was accosted and falsely accused of stealing a woman’s iPhone at a boutique hotel in New York City over the weekend. He shared a video on social media showing part of their encounter with her inside the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan Saturday. The woman told the teen to hand over the phone, but Harrold’s son replied, “This is my phone.” Standing behind a male hotel manager, the woman continued to demand the device.
- At one point, it appears she even lunged at Keyon Harrold Jr. and left him with scratches. The acclaimed musician posted the encounter to his Instagram, and it went viral. The woman in question still has not been publicly identified.
- The woman’s phone was returned by an Uber driver whose car she’d left it in, and no apology was offered for her accusations of conduct. Crump is now representing the family and has called for legal recourse against the woman in a statement. “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,” the statement read. The civil rights attorney wants District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to use the full power of his office and bring about a measure of justice for the Harrold family.
- According to Yahoo News, Crump also wants Arlo Hotels, which owns the Arlo SoHo Hotel, investigated for how it handled the incident. In the viral video, the manager of the hotel almost immediately demanded the 14-year-old hand over the iPhone, to which his father objected. Arlo has insisted that the manager contacted the police to report the woman and extended their apologies.
Nonetheless, Crump wants their behavior scrutinized.
