Most people would freak out if they lost their iPhone, right? You’re not really thinking straight in that situation. (Actually, I don’t own an iPhone, so I’m guessing; kindly bear with me as I grope my way through this story.) I mean, if she realized she’d absent-mindly left her iPhone in the Uber car (returned to her a few minutes later by the honest Uber driver), she wouldn’t have
- assumed someone stole it (why not assume that? after all, she was New York City),
- black teenagers can’t afford iPhones,
- therefore, the black teenager she saw with an iPhone must be a thief,
- and, given his proximity, must be the thief who stole hers, leading her to
- assault and tackle him,
thereby exposing herself to potential criminal prosecution.
For what it’s worth, after learning she had screwed up, she also assumed that if she fled from New York back to her home state of California, nothing would happen to her, other than some unpleasant media coverage. (She apparently never heard of extradition.)
It happens that so-called “SoHo Karen” is now being stalked by papparazzi on her native turf, to wit:
“Seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos, the 22-year-old made a quick trip to a McDonald’s in Fillmore, California – her first outing since being unmasked as the woman who accosted Keyon Harrold Jr at the Arlo Hotel last weekend. The 22-year-old has been laying low at her family’s $389,000 home in the small town of Piru, a small farming town approximately 30 miles north of LA.”
Which makes her trailer-trash by California real-estate value standards — oh wait, there I go, profiling and stereotyping like she did … anway, to continue:
“Yesterday, her mother Nicole, 42, became angry when asked about her daughter and ordered a DailyMail.com reporter off the property while insisting she was not there. But earlier today, a black-clad Ponsetto was seen leaving the home and heading to McDonald’s in a black Range Rover SUV.”
Driving a Range Rover doesn’t mean her family has money; you can rent those things, you know.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Daily Mail, it’s a trashy U.K. tabloid that I frequently use as a source because they always have the juiciest details, most lurid photos, and when authorities withhold a suspected perp’s name from the media (as they did in this case), they’ll go right ahead and publish it, usually accompanied by a fine mugshot. They do seem quite fastidious about getting their stories right, and they don’t have a particular partisan lean — they pick on everybody, no exceptions — so it’s not like I’m retweeting baseless conspiracy theories and false propaganda, like Trump does.
So, back to the question I asked to start off this article: While “SoHo Karen” obviously should be held accountable for her impulsive behavior, bad judgment, racist stereotyping, and violent assault against an innocent child, should I at least try to be a little understanding, on the basis that I’d probably feel frustrated, upset, and confused, too, if I misplaced the iPhone I don’t own and couldn’t recall what I did with it? In such circumstances, wouldn’t I deserve a little license to make a very public ass of myself, simply by reason of being human?
Nah. That’s a bridge too far.
Photo: “SoHo Karen” at a McDonalds in Fillmore California (Daily Mail photo). I won’t publish her name. You can get it, and read about her public drunkenness and drunk driving arrests, here.
She was drunk. According to investigative reports, she has had previous run-ins with the law and DUI’s show up on her police record in California.
Alcohol contributes to social problems.
The victim’s family has hired an attorney and they want to press charges.
Perhaps at 22 she needs to be in rehab.
She was shown climbing into family’s Range Rover. Perhaps she is suffering from Affluenza as well as alcoholism.
She was in New York and had she tackled a teen who had actually stolen here i phone she would be a hero. Teen did not steal her phone so she is a goat. She made a mistake, and went a little too far, but not so far as this mess deserves this much coverage. If the New York prosecutor decides to charge her and is willing to pay the freight then she will go back to New York where a judge could throw her in the pokey over a misdemeanor charge. Guess she should have come to Seattle or Portland where such crimes are getting a pass. Prosecutors discretion, could come down to a phone call with the perp and her lawyer. Assuming she is the right perp.
This could yet turn into a career or disney movie.
There’s no question she’s the perp, or that she physically assaulted a minor. A crime was committed.
There’s no question she’s the perp, or that she physically assaulted a minor. A crime was committed. The question posed by this article is not whether she should get a pass — she should not — but whether the public should judge her as a racist “Karen” or a stupid, impulsive, absent-minded airhead. Looks to me like she’s some of both.