More than 98,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the arrest of “Soho Karen,” Miya Ponsetto, after her viral false accusation of a black teenager stealing her iPhone.
The petition, filed by Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer representing Keyon Harrold Jr.’s family, comes as calls grow for Manhattan prosecutors to accuse Ponsetto of the Dec. 26 incident at a hotel of Soho.
“Keyon Harrold Jr. will live with this lifelong trauma, the weight of racism on the shoulders of another generation,” Crump wrote online. “It deserves more 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 descending, demanding his arrest in New York for the incident.
Harrold, the son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold Sr., 14, was with his father at the Arlo Hotel when Ponsetto approached him and accused him of stealing his iPhone, which he later returned to a driver. from Uber.
During the meeting Ponsetto is seen tussling with the teenager.
Elder 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 from the meeting, which shows Ponsetto grabbing the teen’s leg and trying to attack him.
Crump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.