NYC Hospital ‘Karen’ Paid for Citi Bike at Center of Viral Fight With Black Man: Lawyer

The lawyer for a Manhattan hospital worker accused of taking a Citi Bike from a young black man — who claimed that he paid for the two-wheeler — provided receipts that he says show she was the one who purchased the ride at the center of the viral incident.

The Bellevue Hospital employee — who was branded a “Karen” on social media afterward — rented the bike first, lawyer Justin Marino said in a statement to The Post Wednesday.

He also provided two Citi Bike receipts from May 12, which were timestamped just minutes apart.

The first receipt reviewed by The Post shows the bike being taken out before it was re-locked one minute later, which Marino said is the bike seen in the video.

The second receipt shows another bike being taken out a minute later from the same docking station and was the bike Marino said his client used to get home after being “heckled and pressured to find a new bike” by the group.

The hospital employee, who Marino says is a six-months-pregnant physician assistant, was placed on leave by NYC Health + Hospitals this week after her heated encounter with the men emerged online Saturday and has been viewed tens of millions of times.

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He said after the health care worker wrapped up her 12-hour shift, she got on an available bike, “which no individuals were on or touching,” and paid for it through the Citi Bike app on her phone.

As she backed it up from the docking station, a group of five people approached her and claimed the bike was theirs, he said.

“One or more individuals in that group physically pushed her bike (with her on it) back into the docking station, causing it to re-lock,” Marino said in the written statement.

One of the individuals then covered the bike’s QR code, stopping her from paying for it again so she could leave, Marino said.

“In blocking the QR code, this individual’s arm was touching my client’s pregnant stomach, a condition of which she had made them aware,” he added. {snip}

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Some social media users called the interaction racist while others compared the situation to when Amy Cooper called the police on a black birdwatcher in 2020 and lost her job over it.

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! pic.twitter.com/CLUMNzjSDY

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) May 15, 2023

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NYC Health + Hospitals called the video “disturbing” when announcing she was placed on leave Tuesday. {snip}

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