Harrold and his son are black and were hotel guests in lower Manhattan. The woman in the video appears to be white.
His video of the encounter has been widely shared on social media, sparking a clamor about what many considered one more incident of racial profiling against black men. The hotel apologized and described the woman’s behavior as “baseless accusation, prejudice and aggression against an innocent guest.”
A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said his office is “thoroughly investigating” the incident, and the New York City Police Department told CNN that a complaint of harassment has been filed with the hotel Arlo Soho.
After watching the surveillance video of the incident, investigators are considering accusing the woman of assault and possibly of major thefts or attempted robberies, Rodney Harrison, chief of detectives at the New York Police Department, said Tuesday.
The woman disputes the charges against her
The woman did not show up, but CNN was the first news organization to speak to her on the phone on Tuesday and discuss Harrold’s account of what happened.
Although the 22-year-old claimed to have been assaulted during the conflict, CNN has not been able to corroborate its story with investigators or the hotel where the incident took place.
In a 20-minute phone interview, he said the incident took place after he first demanded that the hotel watch video be watched to try to identify who may have taken his phone. She says she then asked someone else in the hotel lobby to “empty her pocket” before confronting Keyon Harrold Jr., who she said had her phone in her pocket.
“That’s when it all got a little more serious,” the woman said in reference to the interaction.
Throughout the phone call, the woman’s account of the incident was sometimes rambling. He provided additional information about previous and non-incident-related events that CNN has not been able to confirm.
When asked if he’s possibly worried about facing charges and in general, as shown in the video, he said, “Of course, I’m worried. I’m not who I am. In fact … I work hard to make sure I’m always doing the right thing. ”
The woman told CNN that she was willing to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, but that she has not yet received any calls from the NYPD or contacted herself. She also said she would be willing to talk to the Harrolds.
After agreeing to provide evidence that could confirm her claim that she was assaulted, she stopped answering CNN phone calls and text messages.
CNN does not name her at this time because she said she has security concerns that are unrelated to this incident.
CNN also requested a police report from the NYPD, but declined to provide one, saying it does not normally do so in such situations.
Many who have seen Harrold’s video, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, have called for racism. But there are no plans “at this time” to charge the woman with a felony of bias, Harrison said.
“The investigation is still preliminary, a lot of work still needs to be done,” he said. “The complainants are cooperating and I’m sure investigators in the first district will stop this case sooner rather than later.”
Harrold says the meeting happened on the way to breakfast
The teenager tells her “this is my phone” and her father tells her not to tell the woman anything. The woman approaches them and asks that the phone case be removed.
He then touches a hotel employee on the shoulder and asks him to bring him the phone. “Literally get it back, please,” he says.
Old Harrold replies, “Are you kidding me? Do you feel like there’s only one iPhone made in the world?” A man who identifies himself as the hotel manager asks to see the phone but the teenager’s father refuses. “I try to resolve this situation,” the manager says.
In the video, when Harrold and his son try to leave the woman, he approaches them saying, “I won’t let him go with my phone.” Then, the video shows her on the ground, but it’s not clear how she landed on it. He approaches them again and hears the teenager’s father’s scream calling for him to get his hands off before the video is cut.
“I don’t know what would have happened if my dad wasn’t there, honestly,” the teenager said. Asked what he would say if he had a chance to talk to the woman, he said he would expect apologies. Then he said he would ask, “why would you do something like that to a kid who has never met you?”
The woman’s phone was returned to the hotel moments after the incident by a shared vehicle she used to try to check into the hotel, Harrison said.
Hotel says “more could have been done” to turn off the dispute
“It would be horrible at any age, but it’s especially offensive for it to happen to a child,” he said. “To Keyon Harrold Jr. and her family: I’m so sorry it happened to you.”
In a statement, Arlo Hotels said “more could have been done to slow the dispute.”
“We are deeply discouraged by the recent baseless indictment, prejudice and assault on an innocent guest at the Arlo Hotel,” the statement said. “Upon further investigation of the incident, we learned that the guard manager quickly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence … No guest Arlo – and no one – should be subject to this kind of behavior. “
“As this year of racial awareness comes to an end, it is deeply worrying that incidents like this continue to happen, in which a black child is seen and treated as a criminal,” Crump said in a statement.
“We strongly urge Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to file assaults and battery charges against this woman to send the message that hateful, racial behavior is unacceptable,” Crump added. “This is what will be needed to drive change. We are also calling for a civil rights investigation into the Arlo Hotel for its implicit bias in Keyon’s treatment.”
CNN’s Melanie Schuman, Tina Burnside, Sonia Moghe and Kristina Sgueglia contributed to this report.