A lawyer for the white hospital worker who went viral after she appeared to attempt to take a Citi bike reserved by a Black man says he has receipts showing that the woman was the one who actually purchased the bike.
On Wednesday (May 17), lawyer Justin Marino told the New York Post that the Bellevue Hospital employee, who has been deemed a "Karen" on social media, rented the bike first.
Marino provided two Citi Bike receipts from the day of the incident that he says proves her innocence.
One receipt shows a bike being taken out before it was re-locked one minute later. Marino said the first receipt came from the bike that was seen in the video that went viral.
The hospital employee, who Marino said is a six-months-pregnant physician assistant, was placed on leave by NYC Health + Hospitals earlier this week after video surfaced of her encounter with a group of Black men over the bike.
According to Marino, the woman had just finished a 12-hour shift and got on an available bike that "no individuals were on or touching.” She paid for it through the Citi Bike app on her phone, the lawyer said.
She was approached by the group as she was backing the bike up from the docking station, he added.
“One or more individuals in that group physically pushed her bike (with her on it) back into the docking station, causing it to re-lock,” Marino said in the written statement.
The lawyer claimed that one of the individuals covered the bike’s QR code, blocking the hospital employee from paying for the bike again.
“In blocking the QR code, this individual’s arm was touching my client’s pregnant stomach, a condition of which she had made them aware,” Marino said. “Throughout this time and for the remainder of the video, roughly five individuals were telling her to get off the bike and heckling her.”
“The fact anyone would treat another person like this is tragic, especially a visibly pregnant woman,” he added.
The clip that went viral is "incomplete" and began mid-confrontation as the woman cried for help, according to the lawyer. The hospital worker is dedicated to her job and has treated “literally thousands of New York City residents of all backgrounds/ethnicities.”
“Simply, her entire life has been focused on helping others, irrespective of their background,” Marino said.
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