The employee, a physician’s assistant at NYC Health + Hospitals Bellevue, was seen shouting for help and eventually appeared to cry as she yelled at the group of Black teens for trying to take what she said was her bike. NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford reports.
The Manhattan healthcare worker who ignited a firestorm over widely-circulated video of her in a Citi Bike confrontation with a group of young Black men is out on leave and will remain on leave pending a formal review.
Calling the incident in the video "disturbing," an NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue spokesperson said Tuesday that the provider seen screaming at the group was off duty and off campus at the time.
The video has been viewed more than 35 million times since it was posted on Saturday, with many blasting the hospital worker for potentially putting the young men’s safety at risk.
"As a health system, we are committed to providing an environment for our patients and staff that is free from discrimination of any kind," the Bellevue statement said.
In a Mother's Day tweet, the hospital said it was "sorry this happened."
The roughly 2-minute video starts with the woman, who is white, wearing hospital scrubs straddling a Citi bike as she screams for help, even though she doesn’t appear to be in danger.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
"Help! Help me! Please help me," she can be heard shouting loudly.
News
But the young Black man standing next to her repeatedly tells her, "This is not your bike," stating that he just rented that Citi bike, as his friends stand beside him.
"This is my bike on my account, please move," he tells the woman, to which she says, "Get off me."
While the video doesn’t show the young man touching her, it does show the woman remove her hospital badge before grabbing the young man’s phone. He immediately reaches for it and demands she return it — which is when the woman tells him he’s hurting her fetus.
“My unborn child," she yells.
“I’m not touching you," the unidentified man replied.
Eventually, a man also in scrubs inquired what was wrong. That's when the woman suddenly appeared to begin sobbing.
The other man in scrubs tells the woman to choose another bike, and she calmly removed herself.
Another young man recording the video can be heard saying, "How you stop crying? Not a tear came down, miss."
It's not clear what happened before someone started recording the fracas near East 30th Street and First Avenue in Kips Bay. Many, though, are blasting the woman, who works at Bellevue and is employed under an affiliation agreement with NYU.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump also released a statement, stating, "This is unacceptable! A white woman was caught on camera attempting to STEAL a Citi Bike from a young Black man in NYC. She grossly tried to weaponize her tears to paint this man as a threat. This is EXACTLY the type of behavior that has endangered so many Black men in the past!"
No one answered at the woman’s Brooklyn apartment or returned calls for comment from NBC New York. A woman who lives in the same building appeared shocked that she shared a building with the woman seen in the video.
"It’s clearly like a Karen, a Central Park Karen," said the neighbor, referring to the May 2020 incident in which a woman walking her dog called 911 on a Black bird watcher.
The neighbor said the young men seen in the video could have ended up in jail.
"She thinks that she’s viewed as a victim because she’s white because that’s obvious in this America we all live in," said the neighbor.
But another neighbor who knows the woman in the video said he believes the incident is being blown out of proportion.
The NYPD said it is aware of the video, but no one called 911 and no report has been filed. They advise anyone who feels they've been the victim of a crime to come forward.
