In a virtual interview that took placehours before she was arrestedin California, Miya Ponsetto, 22, snapped “Enough!” atCBS This Morninghost Gayle King as she held a defiant hand in the air.
Ponsetto accused the 14-year-old boy, Keyon Harrold Jr., of stealing her phone, ultimately tackling him in an attempt to get the phone from him. (Her missing phone was later found at the hotel.)
Harrold captured the alleged assault in a one-minute video; it was also seen on the hotel’s surveillance camera.
Harrold claims his son was the victim of racial profiling and harassment.
CBS This Morning
?s=20
Ponsetto tells King she “considers [herself] to be super-sweet” and “really never meant for it to hurt him or his father.”
When King says the encounter did not appear “sweet” from the video footage, Ponsetto protests, saying, “I don’t feel that is who I am; I don’t feel this one mistake defines me.”
Ponsetto also accuses the teen’s father of assaulting her, saying, “At the end of the day, the dad did end up slamming me to the ground and pulling my hair, and throwing me and dragging me across the ground. I will say that.” (Video footage of the incident does not corroborate those statements.)
When King presses her to admit her alleged actions were wrong, Ponsetto responds, “OK, so basically I’m a 22-year-old girl. Racism, uh, is … how is one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime?” eventually snapping, “alright Gayle, enough!” as her lawyer appears to chide her.
In a statement toCBS This Morning, Harrold Jr.’s parents said, “This is not about an apology from someone who, until a few days ago, was claiming she did nothing wrong, and in fact alleged Keyon Harrold Sr. had assaulted her. Someone who targeted a 14-year-old Black child because of the color of his skin.”
She was detained on a fugitive warrant outside her residence in Piru, California.
Miya Ponsetto.Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
“I’m not sure [she’s] helping [herself] here,” King says to herCBS This Morningco-hosts after the interview footage aired.
King also claims Ponsetto refused to remove her black baseball cap – which bears the word “Daddy” – before the nationally televised interview.
“It’s a very sad story … There’s something sad about her, and the trauma she put this 14-year-old through, is not OK,” King says at the end of the segment.
CBS This Morningplans to run additional clips from the interview on Monday.
source: people.com
