Miya Ponsetto, 22, spoke with "CBS This Morningâ€s" Gayle King for an interview that aired Friday -- and was filmed not long before the woman was arrested in Ventura County on Thursday.
Flanked by her lawyer and wearing a black baseball cap emblazoned with the word "Daddy," Ponsetto tried to justify her Dec. 26, 2020, outburst and apologized to 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. and his father, famous jazz musician Keyon Harrold.
"Alright, Gayle. Enough."
— Miya Ponsetto in 'CBS This Morning' interview with Gayle King
"I was approaching the people that had been exiting the hotel, because in my mind, anybody exiting is probably the one that, might be the one that is trying to steal my phone," Ponsetto said.
"I admit, yes, I could have approached the situation differently or maybe not yelled at him like that and made him feel, maybe some sort of inferior way -- making him feel as if I was, like, hurting his feels because thatâ€s not my intention. I consider myself to be super sweet. I really never ever meant for it to, like, hurt him or his father, either."
When asked if she was stopping everyone who was leaving the hotel, Ponsetto admitted she was not and said was trying to find her phone while the hotel manager checked surveillance camera footage.
"How would you feel if you were alone in New York and, you know, you were going to spend time with your family during the holidays and you lose the one thing that gets stolen from you that has all of the access to the only way that youâ€re able to get back home?" she asks.
But the interview went off the rails as King began to probe Ponsetto further about her behavior, and the video that shows her tackling the teenager to the ground.
Quote:<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>The 22-year-old woman caught on camera allegedly physically attacking a 14-year-old Black teen and falsely accusing him of stealing her phone was arrested in California.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 8, 2021
In an exclusive interview, Miya Ponsetto and her lawyer spoke with @GayleKing hours before she was arrested. pic.twitter.com/ezaGkcWZ8j