'Karen': I'm so sweet!
Calif. gal agrees to return over Soho ‘attack’
“Soho Karen” Miya Ponsetto agreed on Friday to be hauled back to Manhattan from California for allegedly attacking the 14-year-old son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold — even as she downplayed the incident in a new interview.
Speaking to “CBS This Morning,” Ponsetto said she is a “super sweet” person and “never meant” to hurt the boy when she accosted him at the Arlo Hotel in Soho and accused him of stealing her iPhone.
“I admit, yes, I could have approached the situation differently or maybe not yelled at him like that or made him feel some sort of inferior way, making him feel as if I was, like, hurting his feelings, because that’s not my intention,” Ponsetto told host Gayle King in an interview that was taped Thursday and aired Friday.
“I consider myself to be super sweet. I really never, never meant for it to hurt him or his father, either,” she said.
Soon after the interview taping, Ponsetto was arrested near her Piru, Calif., home by Ventura County Sheriff ’s officers and the NYPD.
At a Friday afternoon court appearance in Ventura County, Ponsetto waived her right to an extradition hearing and agreed to be transported to Manhattan voluntarily by NYPD officers.
“She has signed the waiver and has no objection to being transported to New York,” her lawyer told the court.
Once in New York, she will be booked and arraigned on attempted robbery and other charges in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Ventura County prosecutors told the judge that they were mulling charging Ponsetto with resisting arrest after police said she nearly slammed her car door on a deputy and had to be pulled from her vehicle to be taken into custody.
She continues to have an open DUI charge in Ventura County. That case was delayed until April 16 for pretrial there.
Ponsetto was dubbed “Soho Karen” after video circulated of her accusing Keyon Harrold Jr. of stealing her iPhone at the Arlo Hotel. Video posted to Instagram by the teen’s father shows Ponsetto allegedly attacking Keyon Jr. and trying to snatch his phone.