The narrative behind a video that went viral this week is coming under question after a lawyer for the woman involved says she was actually the victim, Insider reported.
A video posted Saturday shows a confrontation where a Bellevue Hospital employee seemingly was trying to take a Citi Bike from a Black man who had already paid for it. After the video went viral, commenters accused the woman of being racist and "weaponizing her tears" against the man. Some even called for her to be arrested.
“Help! Help me! Please, help me,” the woman yelled as he grasped at the bike. The man could be seen keeping his grips on the bike and repeatedly telling the woman that he's already paid for it.
“Get off me! Get off me, you’re hurting my fetus,” the woman said in the video.
Speaking to Insider, the woman's lawyer said she had paid for the bike first and she has the receipts to prove it.
"A receipt shared with Insider shows payment for a Citi Bike on the app on the evening of May 12 in Manhattan; the bicycle was re-locked to its dock a minute later with no charge logged," Insider reported. "The Citi Bike identification number in the viral video is the same as the one on the receipt and the location matches the view seen in the video."
Speaking to Insider, lawyer Justin Marino said the woman had reserved the bike, "and then they pushed the bike back into the docking station, preventing her from taking it out again."
Marino showed Insider another receipt showing a payment for a second bike taken from the same docking station one minute after the first bike was re-locked and a 25-minute ride that Marino says was the woman's ride home.
"Everyone who's accused her of a crime of stealing the bike — it's outrageous, and it doesn't make any sense," said Marino, adding that the woman is a "hero" who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now being falsely portrayed as a "racist villain" because of "a tiny snippet of a video."
The woman was placed on leave from her job after the video went viral, which NYC health officials called "disturbing."