New York Police Initiated Investigation After A Woman Accused A Black Teen Of Stealing Her iPhone

Keyon Harrold, a Grammy award-winning singer, posted a video with his followers revealing the event a white woman released at his teenage black son while blaming him for stealing her iPhone.

Harrold's now-viral footage, as confirmed by the Washington Post, depicts the moment when a furious mother - who has not been named - repeatedly suspects her 14-year-old son of stealing her iPhone shortly after they left an elevator inside the upscale Arlo Hotel in New York.

The video shows the lady sporting a face mask informing a hotel staff member frequently and desperately that the teen had stolen her phone, amid the youngster refusing any misconduct and informing her continuously that it was his iPhone.

Credit:Instagram

As the lady more than once jumps at the kid trying to snatch the phone, Harrold can be seen intervening, telling his child: "You don't need to disclose nothing to her."

As the hysterical lady advises the youngster to demonstrate the phone is his, Harrold says: "Are you kidding with me? You feel like there's just a single iPhone in the world?"

Harrold - a regular teammate with D'Angelo, Robert Glasper, Common, and Maxwell - later imparted the video to his 71,000+ Instagram supporters.

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In the description of the post, instead of defending Harrold and his family who stayed there, Harrold blasts the hotel staff member for siding with the woman (who was no longer a guest at the hotel). He writes:

"I hate I have to post this!!!

I am furious!!! We see this c**p happening all the time, but it hits different when it hits home!!! I typically try to keep things positive, but nothing about this video is positive.

"The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the @arlohotels Arlo Soho to get breakfast."

Credit:Instagram

"This person quote on quote 'lost' her iPhone, and apparently, my son magically acquired it, which merely ridiculous. This incident went on for five more minutes, me protecting my son from this lunatic.

"She scratched me; she Tackled and grabbed him. He is a child!!!

"Now watch it again. This lady is not even a guest at the hotel. She checked out of the hotel on the 23rd of December; today is the 26th. Now watch as the manager advocates for the lady who is not even a hotel guest, insisting and attempting to use his managerial authority to force my son to show his phone to this random lady. He actually empowered her!!!

Picture for representation/ unsplash

"He didn't even consider the fact we were actually the guests!

"Now think about the trauma that my son now has to carry, only coming downstairs to have [Boxing] day brunch with his dad."

Then Harrold says that the woman's phone was discovered in an Uber soon afterwards. He writes: "Then... her phone was magically returned by an Uber driver a few minutes after this incident.

"No apology from her after this traumatic situation to my son, not me. No apologies from the establishment. This s**t happens so often. It needs to stop!!!"

Arlo Hotel released a statement on Sunday (December 27) in reaction to the video going viral, in which they denounced the woman's actions and sent the Harrold family an apology.

The statement read: "We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice, and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo Hotel.

"In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence; still, more could have been done to deescalate the dispute."

The company added: "No Arlo guest — or any person — should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience, and have reached out to them directly to express our sincere regret and to offer help in dealing with this traumatic event.

"We are committed to making sure this never happens again at any of our hotels."

The New York City Police Department has stated, per the Washington Post, that it is investigating the incident.

In a follow-up post, Harrold told his fans: "We are hurt and saddened but we are not people who want anyone to be falsely accused or want to ruin someone’s life. Let’s be mindful and spread love through this hatefulness."