Miya Ponsetto: SoHo Karen arrested after car chase, tried to slam door on cop's leg when they pulled her out
Miya Ponsetto, dubbed as 'SoHo Karen' for allegedly assaulting a Black teenager, was arrested in California on Thursday, January 7. The 22-year-old was taken into custody based on a warrant from New York. She had fled Manhattan after she was seen in footage posted by Grammy-award winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold on Instagram on December 28, when she accused his son of stealing her iPhone in a hotel lobby.
Ponsetto led the authorities on a brief car chase in Ventura County in California, according to the New York Daily News. A spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, Eric Buschow, told the publication, "They had to pull her out of the car. They did use physical force."
"She tried to slam the door on the leg of one of our deputies and so she was forcibly removed from the vehicle," Buschow added. The authorities had launched an investigation into the woman after she was seen violently confronting Keyon Harrold Jr. at the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan on December 26.
Harrold Sr. had recorded shocking footage that showed Ponsetto lunging at him and his 14-year-old son as she desperately tried to claim that the iPhone in Harrold's son's possession belonged to her. Harrold posted that her iPhone was finally found when an Uber driver returned it to her after the incident was over. However, the father-son duo never received an apology for the accusations hurled at them by the woman.
Detectives with NYPD flew to California to interview Ponsetto after the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had signed off on charges of an attempted robbery and felony fugitive from justice. She is currently being held without bail and is awaiting extradition to New York.
Ponsetto's lawyer, Sharen Ghatan, said she had met her hours before the arrest and added, "I have no clue if she's in custody. I had a difficult day with her. We had an interview lined up, and within 10 to 15 minutes, I realized she was not well, not mentally fit to do any interviews."
"So I'm not surprised this has happened, if she's in custody. I haven't heard it. She was very much MIA for a while, and when she finally came to the big interview, it was clear to me she shouldn't be there. I'm concerned for her wellbeing," Ghatan revealed.
On Wednesday, January 6, Ghatan claimed that Ponsetto had been having a panic attack during the hotel incident and insisted that the attack had not been racially motivated. While speaking to NBC, she said, "Miya is young, She let her emotions get the best of her. That phone could have been in hand of 90-year-old grandma, an Asian person.. someone Black or blue. It wasn't a race related issue. Things took a life of their own."
Ghatan said Ponsetto would like to make peace with the family and acknowledges her issues. "It's horrible, what happened. She certainly should not have done that. She has some things she has to work through with herself, control issues, anger management issues. Of course she knows that."
"She wants to clarify and give peace to the family. She's mixed race. She specifically said it's not about race. The way she talks, it's not even an issue. It was the phone," she said.