NYC hospital at center of CitiBike dispute denies trying to steal bike from young black man
A Bellevue Hospital employee has been accused of trying to hijack a Citi Bike that had allegedly already been paid for by a young black man.
However, the employee has claimed that she paid for the bike — and a second one she was forced to take out — and her lawyer has receipts showing just that.
A clip of the chaotic encounter posted Saturday gained over 6.6 million views on Twitter as commentators blasted the white woman, who is seen wearing NYC Health + Hospital scrubs, for allegedly trying to make a scene and paint the young man as a threat.
“Help! Help me! Please, help me,” the woman yells, trying to grab the attention of passersby as she tugs at the bike.
The young man keeps his grip on the bike’s handlebars and repeatedly tells the woman that he already paid to use that particular bike.
The woman continues to make a scene, raising her voice while wailing for help.
“Get off me! Get off me, you’re hurting my fetus,” the woman exclaims while pushing and shoving the young man.
“I’m not touching you! You’re putting your stomach on my hand,” the young man retorts as she continues to cry out for help.
The young biker makes no attempts at shoving the woman back but holds his ground as he and his group of friends tell her to back off and get her own bike.
About halfway through the nearly two-minute clip, a white man wearing the same scrubs as the woman approaches the group to ask what is going on and the woman appears to start crying.
As the apparent co-worker of the woman tries to step in, the young man on the bike makes a final appeal to the woman, who is now in hysterics: “This is my bike, it’s on my account. Please move.”
The young man’s friends who are behind the camera accuse the woman of fake crying as the co-worker tells the woman to take another bike.
Once the co-worker makes the suggestion, the woman is suddenly calm and begins setting up a nearby bike for use.
Through a lawyer, the woman has claimed that the video does not show the whole story. She claims that after she paid for the bike on the Citi Bike app, she was approached by a group of about five individuals who said the bike was theirs. She alleges that one or more of the individuals pushed the bike back into the docking station, causing it to re-lock and then prevented her from paying for it again.
Her lawyer produced a Citi Bike receipt showing a bike was checked out and checked in within one minute on the evening of May 12.
A DCPI spokesperson told The Post that the NYPD is aware of the video circulating online.
“There are currently no 911 calls or reports on file for this incident,” the spokesperson said. “The NYPD encourages anyone who believes they were a victim of a crime to come forward and report it at any police facility so that an investigation can commence.”
Social media users were quick to chastise the NYC hospital employee, nicknaming her “Karen,” and questioning whether her alleged actions on the street reflect how she treats black patients.
One person chimed in, “This Karen needs to be locked up!”
Others noted that — if the man’s version of the story was true — similar situations in the past have placed black people in danger.
“She is deplorable. What she did is an act of violence and she should suffer consequences. Like this really pissed me off because we get killed over s–t like this.”
Some compared the woman to Amy Cooper, also known as “Central Park Karen,” who called the police on a black birdwatcher in 2020 and lost her job and a lawsuit over the incident.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue addressed the incident in a statement on social media Sunday.
“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 hospital wrote.
“NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is committed to providing the highest quality of care to all New Yorkers with dignity, cultural sensitivity and compassion.”
The Post has reached out to NYC Health + Hospitals for comment regarding the incident.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect new information that has emerged.
