A new twist in the viral Citi bike fight shows that the woman had already paid for the bike she was accused of trying to take. Erica Byfield reports.
There's a new twist in the viral Citi Bike confrontation that saw a New York City healthcare worker get into a heated argument with a group of young Black men: Her lawyer said she did pay for the bike, and has the receipts to prove it.
The 90-second clip, which has been viewed more than 35 million times since it was posted on May 13, shows NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue employee Sarah Comrie straddling the two-wheeler as she argues with a man right next to her, claiming it's his.
"Help! Help me! Please help me," she can be heard shouting loudly as the video starts.
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 Comrie, to which she says, "Get off me."
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While the video doesn’t show the young man touching her, it does show Comrie grabbing the young man’s phone. He immediately reaches for it and demands she return it — which is when she tells him he’s hurting her fetus.
“My unborn child," Comrie yells.
“I’m not touching you," the unidentified man replied.
Eventually, a man also in scrubs inquired what was wrong. That's when Comrie suddenly appeared to begin sobbing. The other man in scrubs tells her to choose another bike, and she calmly removed herself.
It's not clear what happened before someone started recording the fracas near East 30th Street and First Avenue in Kips Bay, but a spokesperson for the hospital earlier in the week called the video "disturbing." The hospital put Comrie on leave pending a formal review.
While many blasted the hospital worker for potentially putting the young men’s safety at risk, her lawyer said Thursday that the entire incident is being taken out of context — and his client is being bombarded with threats.
"Every part of that story is incorrect — starting with my client is not a racist. Two, my client did not take anyone else’s bike," said lawyer Justin Marino.
He pointed to receipts Comrie provided that NBC New York examined. They show a rental for bike 560-3915, which lasted just one minute.
Freezing the now-viral video shows that the code on the bike she and the other man are feuding over reads 560-3915.
NBC New York reached out to Citi Bike to confirm her rental and if anyone else reserved it around that time, but the company did not immediately respond. Marino said it's not possible for someone else to have a reservation for that same bike, saying Comrie's receipt "confirms the bike she was on was rented by her."
Marino said that Comrie, who is six months pregnant, had wrapped up 12-hour shift at Bellevue on Saturday, walked up to the rack, paid, and pulled the bike back. He says that’s when the men approached.
The lawyer also said his client has been heckled online for mentioning her unborn child, as well as the moment she starts to cry.
"How dare you judge someone in that circumstance based on the conditions she was going through at that time," said Marino.
The video ends with Comrie getting on another bike, which her lawyer has a receipt for as well, proving she rode that one home.
The men in the video have not been identified. The NYPD reiterated Thursday there were no 911 calls or reports on file for this incident and it asked anyone who thinks they were victimized to come forward.
Some have compared Comrie to the so-called "Central Park Karen," referring to the May 2020 incident in which a woman walking her dog called 911 on a Black bird watcher. But Marino said he simply wants to change the narrative and clear Comrie's name.
"There was nothing other than the difference in skin color that suggests race had anything to do with it," he said. "We’re hoping that her employer will not violate her rights, if they do, they will be added to the list of people that we sue."
NYC Health + Hospitals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
