The employee, a physician’s assistant at NYC Health + Hospitals Bellevue, was seen shouting for help and eventually appeared to cry as she yelled at the group of Black teens for trying to take what she said was her bike. NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford reports.
UPDATE: Bellevue Hospital Issues New Statement Tuesday on Worker in Citi Bike Video
A Manhattan hospital employee is facing criticism over a confrontation caught on camera that shows her get irate and scream amid a dispute over a Citi bike with a group of young Black men -- and Bellevue says it's reviewing the case.
The viral video has been viewed nearly 37 million times since it was posted on Saturday, with many blasting the hospital worker for potentially putting the young men’s safety at risk.
The roughly two-minute video starts with a woman, who is white, wearing hospital scrubs straddling a Citi bike as she screams for help, even though she doesn’t appear to be in danger.
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"Help! Help me! Please help me," she can be heard shouting loudly.
But the young Black man standing next to her repeatedly tells her that, "This is not your bike," stating that he just rented that Citi bike, as his friends stand beside him.
"This is my bike on my account, please move," he tells the woman, to which she says, "Get off me."
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While the video doesn’t show the young man touching her, it does show the woman remove her hospital badge before grabbing the young man’s phone. He immediately reaches for it and demands she return it — which is when the woman tells him he’s hurting her fetus.
“My unborn child," she yells.
“I’m not touching you," the unidentified man replied.
Eventually, a man also in scrubs inquired what was wrong. That's when the woman suddenly appeared to begin sobbing.
The other man in scrubs tells the woman to choose another bike, and she calmly removed herself.
Another young man recording the video can be heard saying: "How you stop crying? Not a tear came down, miss."
It's unclear what occurred before the video recording started the now-viral incident near East 30th Street and First Avenue in Kips Bay. But many are blasting the hospital worker, a physician assistant who NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue said appears to work for them.
"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 are reviewing the incident," a statement from the hospital reads. "NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is committed to providing the highest quality care to all New Yorkers with dignity, cultural sensitivity and compassion."
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump also released a statement, stating, "This is unacceptable! A white woman was caught on camera attempting to STEAL a Citi Bike from a young Black man in NYC. She grossly tried to weaponize her tears to paint this man as a threat. This is EXACTLY the type of behavior that has endangered so many Black men in the past!"
No one answered at the woman’s Brooklyn apartment or returned calls for comment from NBC New York. A woman who lives in the same building appeared shocked that she shared a building with the worker seen in the video.
"It’s clearly like a Karen, a Central Park Karen," said the neighbor, referring to the May 2020 incident in which a woman walking her dog called 911 on a black bird watcher. The neighbor said the young men seen in the video could have ended up in jail.
"She thinks that she’s viewed as a victim because she’s white because that’s obvious in this America we all live in," said the neighbor.
But another neighbor who knows the woman in the video said he believes the incident is being blown out of proportion.
The NYPD said it is aware of the video, but no one called 911 and no report has been filed. They advise anyone who feels they've been the victim of a crime to come forward.
