The hunt for the ‘SoHo Karen’ has gone cross-country.
Two New York City police detectives are traveling to California in pursuit of Miya Ponsetto, the woman who was recorded on Dec. 26 allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old Black child after she falsely accused him of stealing her iPhone at the Arlo Hotel in lower Manhattan.
A quick refresher on the saga: After she was filmed attacking the boy, Keyon Harrold Jr., the son of Grammy-winning trumpeter and Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborator Keyon Harrold, it was revealed that Ponsetto had left her phone behind in an Uber.
Harrold alleged in an Instagram post that a hotel manager emboldened the woman and attempted “to use his managerial authority to force my son to show his phone to this random lady.” (He added that he and his son were staying at the hotel, but Ponsetto was not.)
The hotel issued an apology soon after the assault caught traction online: “More could have been done to deescalate the dispute.”
The attack ignited outrage nationwide. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the incident “racism” and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump demanded the Manhattan District Attorney “bring charges of assault and battery against this woman.”
Representatives from NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ponsetto told CNN in an anonymous interview, where she disputed the telling of events: “I actually … try very hard to make sure that I am always doing the right thing.” The cable news outlet received flak on Twitter for not identifying her during the interview.
