New York's Bellevue Hospital has released a statement after one of their white employees was caught on video trying to steal a Citi Bike reserved by a Black man.
In the video, the hospital employee, who is now being deemed a Karen on social media, attempted to take the Black man's reserved bike by crying for help and painting him as a threat to onlookers of the scene, per Revolt.
"Help! Help me! Please, help me,” the woman screamed as she held on to the bike that the man explained was already reserved on his account.
The employee continued her attempt, straddling the bike and gripping onto its handlebars.
“You’re hurting my fetus,” the woman claimed.
She then attempted to garner the sympathy of bystanders by crying but was never actually able to shed a tear, the person recording pointed out.
At one point during the video, a white man, who also appeared to be a hospital employee, joined the crowd of onlookers and suggested the Black man allow her to take the bike that he had already linked to his account.
The woman's attempt eventually ended when her colleague told her to take another available bike.
Social media users called out the Karen's dangerous attempt to "weaponize tears" to paint the Black man as a threat.
“I keep coming back to this, and I am so irritated. The same type of bulls**t is how Carolyn Bryant got Emmett Till killed. It’s how white women have facilitated the deaths of Black men for centuries,” one person wrote.
"The fake tears were to trigger the white man behind her and or a cop to treat the young men like they were attacking her. When it didn’t work she immediately turned it off. Women like her grow up being put on a pedestal & protected. Their moms taught them to weaponize their tears," another Twitter user pointed out.
Following widespread backlash, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue released a statement on Sunday (May 14) addressing the incident.
"We have recently become aware of an incident that occurred off-campus over the weekend and appears to involve one of our employees. We are sorry this happened and we are reviewing the incident," the statement reads.
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