The Black teen in the viral rental bike feud with a white woman said she’s the one who “did something wrong.”
But instead, she was “rewarded” with more than $130,000 in donations for legal bills, the teen told NewsOne.
The teen’s family said they get public assistance and can’t afford their own lawyer.
The Black teen whose rental bike feud with a white New York City hospital worker went viral said the woman was the one who “did something wrong” — but instead got “rewarded” by “white conservatives” with more than $100,000 in donations.
Video of the confrontation between the teen and Sarah Comrie showed the pair arguing over a rental bike, with the teen accusing Comrie of taking his bike and Comrie yelling for help. A clip of the incident was viewed millions of times on social media and Comrie faced widespread backlash for how she reacted, with some critics accusing her of racism.
Comrie’s attorney, Justin Marino, previously confirmed Comrie was involved and told Insider that his client “reserved” the bike.
Marino said the teen and a group of friends “pushed the bike back into the docking station, preventing her from taking it out again.” A receipt previously shared with Insider shows Comrie’s payment for the same Citi Bike the teen rode earlier in the day.
But the 17-year-old says he was taking a break with the bike at the time, and has his own receipts to show he had used it, according to NewsOne.
The teen — who spoke using a pseudonym — told NewsOne he rented the bike on May 12, but docked it at the bike station in Manhattan to reset the timer so he wouldn’t be charged extra for going over a 45-minute ride.
Receipts shared by the teen and published by NewsOne appear to show that he rode the specific Citi Bike around New York City just before the confrontation.
NewsOne reported that the teen said Comrie approached them and asked two of his friends if she could use the bikes before she asked him, “Can I please have this bike?”
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Like his pals, the teen said he declined and told Comrie he was about to take it back out. The teen alleged that Comrie noted she was pregnant and, when he still refused to give her the bike, scanned the QR code while he held onto it, renting out the bike from under him.
The teen told NewsOne that while Comrie was initially criticized, “everything flipped” after her lawyer published her receipts.
“People started calling me a ‘thief,’ a ‘thug,’ and a ‘Black man,'” he said, according to NewsOne.
A GoFundMe for Comrie — a physician assistant at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue who was placed on leave after the incident — has raised more than $130,000 in donations to help with her legal fees.
“She did something wrong, and she basically got rewarded for it,” the teen told NewsOne adding, “She got all the white conservatives on her side. Everyone who was on my side has just kind of stayed silent.”
The teen’s family told NewsOne that they get some public assistance and can’t afford to pay for a lawyer of their own.
“No one is helping us,” the teen’s mother, who also didn’t use her real name, told the news outlet. “We are poor people. We are immigrants. We can’t afford a lawyer.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
Pezou–The Black teen in a viral bike feud with a white woman said she 'did something wrong' but got 'rewarded' with over $130,000 in donations