More than 98,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the arrest of “Soho Karen”, Miya Ponsetto, after her viral dispute that falsely accused a black teenager of stealing her iPhone.
The petition, posted by Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer representing Keyon Harrold Jr.’s family, comes as Manhattan prosecutors charge Ponsetto in the Dec. 26 incident at a Soho hotel.
“Keyon Harrold Jr. will live with this trauma for life, the weight of racism on the shoulders of another generation,” Crump wrote online. “Better than this treatment!”
The petition seeks 200,000 signatures.
Protesters this weekend also gathered in front of a Los Angeles police station, where Ponsetto is now down, demanding her arrest in New York over the incident.
Harrold, the 14-year-old son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold Sr., was with his father at the Arlo Hotel when Ponsetto approached him and accused him of stealing his iPhone – which was later returned to him by an Uber driver.
During the meeting, Ponsetto is seen fighting the teenager.
Old Harrold posted the video on his Instagram page.
Last week, NYPD officials said the case, originally classified as harassment, could be updated based on footage of the meeting, which shows Ponsetto grabbing the teenager’s leg and trying to address it.
Crump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.