On Wednesday, during a virtual appearance in Manhattan court, Ponsetto entered a plea of not guilty when she was arraigned on two counts of unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, and endangering the welfare of a child, PEOPLE can confirm.
In a statement provided to PEOPLE, Ponsetto’s attorney, Paul D’Emilia, called the indictment “opportunistic” and “shameful.”
“The charges alleged are a brazen and clear overreach of the intent of the statute,” D’Emilia said. “In sum, they are absurd, and a perversion of our legal system.”
Miya Ponsetto.Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
Police say 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 which later went viral online. The alleged incident was also seen on the hotel’s surveillance camera.
Ponsetto was arrested on Jan. 7 outside her residence in Piru, California.
A police source confirmed to PEOPLE at the time that Ponsetto did not cooperate with authorities, and had to be forcibly removed from her car after nearly slamming the driver’s side door on a deputy from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
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Hours before she was taken into custody, Ponsettosat down for an interviewwithCBS This Morningco-anchorGayle King.
“I admit, I could have approached the situation differently, or maybe not yelled at him like that or made him feel … inferior, or like I was hurting his feelings,” Ponsetto said, describing herself as “super sweet” and questioning how her actions were in any way criminal.
When King pressed her to admit her alleged actions were wrong, Ponsetto responded, “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!”
“I wasn’t racial profiling whatsoever,” she said. “I am Puerto Rican. I’m like, a woman of color. I’m Italian, Greek, Puerto Rican…”
source: people.com
