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Woman Refuses To Apologize For Falsely Accusing Jazz Trumpeter Keyon Harrold’s Son Of Stealing Phone

Activists are calling for Miya Ponsetto’s arrest.

Miya Ponsetto is the latest woman caught on camera harassing a Black child. Despite massive social media backlash, the woman, who has been named Soho Karen, is refusing to apologize. 

A Dec. 26 video showed Miya Ponsetto in the lobby of New York’s Arlo Soho hotel accusing a 14-year-old of stealing her cellphone. The child is the son of Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold. The father posted the video, which showed Ponsetto screaming in the lobby, and lunging at his child.
TMZ caught Ponsetto on camera in Los Angeles, refusing to take any accountability for her actions. When asked why she attacked a 14-year-old child, she said she was 22 and that she didn’t “know what the problem is here."

Ponsetto also claimed she was Puerto Rican with the TMZ reporter asking, “Does that justify what you did?” She did not respond. 

RELATED: Central Park ‘Karen’ Seen Calling Police On Black Man Apologizes After Viral Outrage And Job Suspension

New York’s ABC-7 also reports that activists in Los Angeles have been demanding her arrest by protesting outside the LAPD’s North Hollywood Police Station on Jan. 2.
Ponsetto is currently wanted for questioning by the New York Police Department. On Dec. 31,  NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted,  “The @NYPDnews is requesting the public’s assistance locating the suspect in this video.”

A spokesman for the Arlo hotel said that Harrold and his son did receive an apology from the manager and acknowledged that the situation could have been handled better, according to The New York Post

“We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo hotel,” the hotel said in a statement.

According to The New York Post, Ponsetto has had a couple of brushes with the law in the last year.

She was arrested for public intoxication in Beverly Hills on Feb. 28.

In May, she was detained for drunk driving near Calabasas and hit with four misdemeanor counts — two for driving under the influence of alcohol, one for unlawful use of a driver’s license, and one for driving with a suspended license.

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