Source: Gary Hershorn / Getty
A white hospital worker in New York City is under investigation after being seen trying to take a bike from a Black teenager in a viral video.
A video posted to social media Saturday (May 13), showed female white hospital worker who has been identified as Sarah Jane Comrie (read more about her), in blue scrubs in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in a confrontation with a Black teen and his friends as she tried to take a CitiBike from him. “Help! Help me! Please, help me,” she is seen yelling as the teen maintains his grasp on the bike, informing her that he’s already paid for its use. “This is my bike, it’s on my account,” he says.
Comrie continues to scream for help. “Get off me! Get off me, you’re hurting my fetus,” she yells at him while pushing at him and attempting to take his phone as he’s recording. “I’m not touching you! You’re putting your stomach on my hand,” he responds.
Another hospital employee comes up, and the woman appears to cry but abruptly stops when another one of the teens points out there were no tears present. “How did you stop crying? Not a tear came out, miss,” one of them says. The video ends with the woman getting off the bike and choosing another one.
The video, seen by over 6.6 million on Twitter alone, sparked a wave of outrage with people commenting that Comrie tried to weaponize her “white woman tears” to get her way, comparing it to where Amy Cooper falsely claimed a Black man was trying to harm her in Central Park in 2020. The New York Police Department stated it had not received any reports.
“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,” a spokesperson said. NYC Health + Hospitals – which the Bellevue Hospital is part of – issued a statement addressing the incident via social media on Sunday afternoon (May 14).
A spokesperson for the healthcare network further updated the situation with another statement, saying: “We are aware of the video involving a healthcare provider off duty and away from the hospital campus. The incident in the video is disturbing. The provider is currently out on leave and will remain on leave pending a review. As a health system, we are committed to providing an environment for our patients and staff that is free from discrimination of any kind.”
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