A Black musician who said he was assaulted when a white woman wrongfully accused his 14-year-old son of stealing and demanded the teen turn over his iPhone to her is seeking assault and battery charges. Keyon Harrold, a Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter, retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump in his fight for justice in the incident involving the unidentified woman on Saturday. Harrold was a guest at the Arlo SoHo when the woman, a former guest at the hotel, demanded repeatedly that his son prove his own phone wasn’t stolen. Harrold said in the process she tried to get physical with the teen and Harrold stepped in to protect his son.
"I'm a trumpet player, so now my hand's bleeding because I'm trying to protect my son because of a crazy person saying she took his iPhone and trying to go into his pocket, trying to go into my pocket," Harrold said in video Crump tweeted Monday. “This is unacceptable, unacceptable on a day when I’m just trying to have a good time with my son right here.”
Crump is circulating an online petition to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to have the woman criminally charged in the incident Crump said played out for more than five minutes. The woman grabbed and tackled Harrold’s son, scratching Harrold, the attorney said. “Now I ask you, what would the hotel manager and security guards have done had they witnessed a Black man tackle a white teenager in furious pursuit of a missing cell phone?” Crump asked on the petition site. “This is the double-standard that exists in America today! Keyon Harrold 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 had 20,339 supporters as of Tuesday morning with a goal of 100,000.
Danny Frost, a spokesman with the district attorney's office, said in a statement emailed to Daily Kos Tuesday that he can’t name the woman due to a policy preventing the office from identifying individuals who have not been charged. “Our office is thoroughly investigating this incident,” Frost said.
Video Harrold shared on social media showed the woman repeatedly demand that Harrold make his teen show the woman his phone to prove it was his. “No he’s not leaving,” she said.
"Are you kidding me? You feel like there's only one iPhone made in the world?" Harrold asked her at one point in the encounter. “No OK then show me the, show me the…” the woman started to interrupt. “No,” Harrold responded. “Get a life. You better go use Find My iPhone.”
The hotel apologized to Harrold in a statement emailed to Daily Kos Sunday. “We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo hotel,” a hotel spokesman said in the statement. “In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence; still, more could have been done to de-escalate the dispute.
“No Arlo guest – or any person – should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience, and have reached out to them directly to express our sincere regret and to offer help in dealing with this traumatic event. We are committed to making sure this never happens again at any of our hotels.”
RELATED: 'He is a child!!!' Teen son of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter wrongfully accused of stealing
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Source: Daily Kos
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