Last week, Miya Ponsetto allegedly tackled a 14-year-old Black male teen in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in New York after accusing him of stealing her phone. The aftermath of the incident was captured on cell phone video by the teen’s father, Grammy Award-winning musician Keyon Harrold, and shared on his social media pages.
“The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the...Arlo Soho to get breakfast,” Harrold wrote in the caption of his post.
Hotel surveillance footage also captured the moments leading up to Ponsetto tackling the youth to the ground. Moments later, an Uber driver came back to the hotel and returned Ponsetto’s phone.
Twenty-two-year-old Ponsetto has reportedly had several run-ins with police just last year. According to a report by the New York Post, Ponsetto and her mother Nicole were both arrested for public intoxication stemming from an incident last February when they refused to leave the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. Staff called police and a report by TMZ alleges that Nicole faced charges of battery on a police officer after kicking and pushing an officer who was trying to get them to leave the hotel premises. Three months later, the day after the Los Angeles County District Attorney charged both women for the February incident, Miya would be arrested again for DUI.
Now, seven months later, Harrold wants Ponsetto to face criminal charges for attacking his son. A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed to CNN that an investigation is underway, though Ponsetto hasn’t been formally charged in the December 26 incident.
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