Pregnant NYC Bike "Karen" was the victim, not the agressor

[littleripper]

Trial by social media for a pregnant woman who cried when a man tried to steal the bike she's hired is tried and hung by social media, and put on unpaid leave from her job, with no evidence or investigation:

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a43920956/pregnant-nyc-karen-on-video-trying-to-steal-a-black-mans-citi-bike/

https://news.yahoo.com/receipts-show-hospital-worker-accused-170920174.html

It turns out she had paid for the bike and he has no evidence he paid. But he is not the subject of the internets wrath, no consequences for him.

I hope she takes her employers to court and wins a massive settlement. Surreal levels of misogyny and hatred directed to a pregnant healthcare worker who did nothing wrong at all.

Will this ever be recognised for what it is?

[inamarina]

Also, if the bike already was under the boy‘s name, why did he re-lock it?

[nothingcomestonothing]

@nothingcomestonothing

We don't know who was at fault in terms of who had booked the bike, possibly neither party if there was some kind of glitch in the booking system.

But some people have already decided that the woman is at fault, that she was faking crying, that she was lying and that she was a racist. We do tk kw any

Christ MN, edit button!!

I was trying to write, we don't know any of that. We don't know who was the victim, but we do know only one party has suffered real life consequences of this interaction, the woman.

And again Lndnmummy, that word is a misogynistic slur.

[skullbabe]

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat

The way I see it she’s on the bike. He is pushing her off it.

He did not push her. He was holding the bike looking at his phone to show her the booking. She took off her lanyard packed it away and then put her lunch bag away. She took his phone and he took it back.

[QuintanaRoo]

@Walrussy

I might be wrong but hasn't the guy now released receipts showing he had already hired the bike but ended his ride/docked it five minutes before Sarah hired it? So showing that it was actually hers?

That’s what I heard. So he and his mates had ridden the bikes there, docked them. Decided to go somewhere else but in those few minutes the bike was available for hire, so she had hired it out. I have no idea if that’s true or not but that’s certainly what I saw yesterday on the internet.

Also that the guy who filmed has deleted his original video and apologised to her saying at the time he didn’t realise she was the “victim” but again he does now. Again I have not independently verified this so have no idea if this is correct.

[QuintanaRoo]

Nbc have confirmed the rental receipt matches the code on the bike

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2023/05/23/citi-bike-karen-danger-confirmation-bias/70242982007/

[skullbabe]

@inamarina

Also, if the bike already was under the boy‘s name, why did he re-lock it?

He didn't dock the bike after she went to book another bike. He got on the bike and rode away. Look at the video - the bike is active (the light is shining). The issue now to establish is under who. She left to book another bike - which she would not have been able to do if the first bike was active. You cannot have 2 bikes on the go. This means that the first bike was not under her name. You can also confirm this by the bystander who when appraising the situation asked the young man to cancel his to let the woman go. Which he refused to do (because inthe moment he was being petty too - tbh his friends on the other bikes were also asking him to let it go). But again - her behaviour in the moment is the thing that people are objecting to.

[Walrussy]

Re the docking, the lawyer said this days ago:

[skullbabe]

There was no reason for her to escalate the situation in the manner that she did. She could have easily resolved it by showing her receipt and comparing notes with the young man. 

[skullbabe]

@Walrussy

Re the docking, the lawyer said this days ago:

If this were true (the boys docked the bike while she was on it after she paid for it) - how did it get back out of the dock for the video and under who's account is it active? Because in the video she has an active bike. If she left that bike to hire another one she wouldn't have been able to because she could not have 2 bikes under one account. This means that the bike at the time of the video was not linked to her account.

[Lndnmummy]

@nothingcomestonothing

We don't know who was at fault in terms of who had booked the bike, possibly neither party if there was some kind of glitch in the booking system.

But some people have already decided that the woman is at fault, that she was faking crying, that she was lying and that she was a racist. We do tk kw any

The majority though, have aassumed that the teenage black boys were at fault. That they were aggressive, thieves, that they harmed her unborn baby, and that they were sexist and violent thugs....

[Lndnmummy]

@skullbabe

If this were true (the boys docked the bike while she was on it after she paid for it) - how did it get back out of the dock for the video and under who's account is it active? Because in the video she has an active bike. If she left that bike to hire another one she wouldn't have been able to because she could not have 2 bikes under one account. This means that the bike at the time of the video was not linked to her account.

Simples

[Lndnmummy]

The point, that most of you miss is that she did not HAVE to worry about the details. She felt that if she only shouted help and cried, all would be well. She felt that the bike was hers. This is what white privilige looks like. The boys, know that they will be accused, vilified and wrongly accused.

This type of scenario is triggering beyond belief for so many people who have ended up as collateral damage to white women tears. Wrongfully accused, time and time again.

[Lndnmummy]

@skullbabe

There was no reason for her to escalate the situation in the manner that she did. She could have easily resolved it by showing her receipt and comparing notes with the young man. 

Yes. Perhaps treat him like a human being and go 'ooops deary me, something wrong here'.

Had the man/woman been a john or shall we say Caren, this is what her approach would have been.

[CwmYoy]

@Lndnmummy

The point, that most of you miss is that she did not HAVE to worry about the details. She felt that if she only shouted help and cried, all would be well. She felt that the bike was hers. This is what white privilige looks like. The boys, know that they will be accused, vilified and wrongly accused.

This type of scenario is triggering beyond belief for so many people who have ended up as collateral damage to white women tears. Wrongfully accused, time and time again.

Do stop with this nonsense. You are making yourself look ridiculous.

Women of all colours cry when upset. Get used to it. And stop pretending it's something it isn't to suit your bizarre beliefs.

[nothingcomestonothing]

@Lndnmummy

The majority though, have aassumed that the teenage black boys were at fault. That they were aggressive, thieves, that they harmed her unborn baby, and that they were sexist and violent thugs....

But that isn't what happened? The woman was assumed to be at fault, was blamed, criticised, called a racist and a liar. Where is this majority who assumed the men (I won't call them boys, I think that's problematic) were all the things you've said? All of the furore around this has been critical of the woman, not the the men. How are you so sure the opposite happened?

[skullbabe]

Women of all colours cry when upset. Get used to it. And stop pretending it's something it isn't to suit your bizarre beliefs.

Of course women of all colours cry when they are upset. And women of all colours can also pretend to cry to manipulate a situation. You are conflating two situations. Sara pretended to cry - she did not actually cry. It is particulary potent when a white woman pretends to cry in the context of conflict with a black person because invariably, as is evident in this thread, the white woman will always believed and excused regardless of contradicting evidence.

[skullbabe]

I won't call them boys, I think that's problematic

But there are all boys - they are all teenagers.

[elgreco]

The woman was vilified and suspended. Nothing bad happended to the males.....how the fuck is the woman privileged?

[Lndnmummy]

@nothingcomestonothing

But that isn't what happened? The woman was assumed to be at fault, was blamed, criticised, called a racist and a liar. Where is this majority who assumed the men (I won't call them boys, I think that's problematic) were all the things you've said? All of the furore around this has been critical of the woman, not the the men. How are you so sure the opposite happened?

i won't call them boys

No? This is another huge problem. The dehumanisation and adultification of black boys and girls. It plays into the stereotype of the strong, violent aggressor.

Can you all really not see what the problem is here? I don't understand how you can't.

[Lndnmummy]

@skullbabe

I won't call them boys, I think that's problematic

But there are all boys - they are all teenagers.

Indeed

[inamarina]

@skullbabe

Women of all colours cry when upset. Get used to it. And stop pretending it's something it isn't to suit your bizarre beliefs.

Of course women of all colours cry when they are upset. And women of all colours can also pretend to cry to manipulate a situation. You are conflating two situations. Sara pretended to cry - she did not actually cry. It is particulary potent when a white woman pretends to cry in the context of conflict with a black person because invariably, as is evident in this thread, the white woman will always believed and excused regardless of contradicting evidence.

But this particular white woman wasn’t believed initially - that’s the whole point.
As PP pointed out, she was called a racist and a liar. She also lost her job.
Some people on this thread are more inclined to believe her now because she seems to have produced some proof that the bike was indeed booked under her name. The whole thread was only started after she‘d shown her receipts.

[inamarina]

@Lndnmummy

i won't call them boys

No? This is another huge problem. The dehumanisation and adultification of black boys and girls. It plays into the stereotype of the strong, violent aggressor.

Can you all really not see what the problem is here? I don't understand how you can't.

How is it dehumanisation though? PP called them „men“. Adultification, possibly, but dehumanisation?

[QuintanaRoo]

@skullbabe

I won't call them boys, I think that's problematic

But there are all boys - they are all teenagers.

Are they? I didn’t think ages or names had been published?

[skullbabe]

So again - this really was an argument that got out of hand and the adult in the conversation really needed to act like an adult.

I have just seen a video of the sister of the boy explaining what happened with his receipts. Bike 560 3915 was in the boy's possession from St Nicholas Ave & Manhattan Ave to 1st Ave & E 30 St from 1833 to 1919. The boys docked the bikes. Sara came up to them and asked to use one of their bikes as there are other bikes sitting idle in the rack (which we can confirm from the fact that she was able to get a bike straight away after the incident). They say no and she asks again mentioning she is pregnant and they still say no. Then with the boy standing next to the bike with his hands on the handelbars, she sits on the bike and scanned the QR code and tried to ride away. The boy redocked the bike and was able to restart his ride at 1925 on the same bike. The video was recorded at 1924.

So this raises the question - if you are out with your friends and you have stopped your ride to avoid the 45 minute penalty but are fully planning on continuing your journey, you are standing by the bike you intend to keep using and someone comes to use your bikes when there are others available, are you obligated to accomodate them? Sara for some reason really wanted the bike he had been using and for some reason felt that they should just accomodate her and when they didn't she tried to make it a fait d'accompli by scanning the QR code and taking the bike. When that didn't work and they redocked the bike and the boy scanned back in - she tried to take the bike, then his phone and then pretended to cry because she didn't get her way. This is the behaviour we are objecting to. Should everyone have calmed down - yes? Should the boys just have let her have the bike even though there were lots of others to choose from? Perhaps - it would have been unfair but would have kept the peace. Should she behaved the way she did after she didn't get her way? No.

[skullbabe]

@QuintanaRoo

Are they? I didn’t think ages or names had been published?

I based that initially on their voices and speech in the video - they sound young. Then by the journalists who have spoken to the boy in the video (with his sister and his mother) referring to him as a boy.