Ben Crump was branded a “race hustler” and was heavily criticized by social media users after he posted a video on Twitter, where he claimed that a white woman attempted to “steal” a bike from a Black guy by feigning tears.
The video, which was posted on May 15, has recently gone viral after Twitter fact-checked Crump. “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!” Crump originally captioned his post.
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Twitter has since added a Community Note for Crump’s post, which says, “Since the filming of this video, receipts have been made available to prove that the woman in question was in fact the person who paid to unlock and use the bike.” Twitter also linked the URL of a Yahoo News article regarding the incident.
Justin Marino, a lawyer representing Sarah Comrie, the white woman identified in the video, said that Comrie paid for the bike herself and has the receipts to prove it. “It was her bike,” lawyer Justin Marino said in an interview with Insider on Thursday. The receipt in question, reviewed by Insider shows payment for a Citi Bike for the evening of May 12 in Manhattan. The Citi Bike identification number in the viral video is the same as the one on the receipt.
Comrie, who is presently six months pregnant, has been placed on leave from her job as a physician assistant at Bellevue Hospital this week.
The bike was allegedly pushed back into its docking station after a young Black man and his friends told the woman that the man had already paid for the same bike. “She had reserved it, and then they pushed the bike back into the docking station, preventing her from taking it out again,” Marino told Insider. “Everyone who’s accused her of a crime of stealing the bike — it’s outrageous, and it doesn’t make any sense.”
Social media users have come to Comrie’s defense and in turn, blasted Crump for posting the video. Here are some of the reactions:
