Woman Falsely Accuses Grammy-Winning Trumpeter’s Son of iPhone Theft

Grammy-winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold says his son was wrongfully accused of stealing a woman’s phone.

Grammy-Winning Trumpeter’s son falsely accused of stealing IPhone

Harrold posted a video on Sunday on Instagram of the December 26 incident showing an unidentified white woman frantically accusing Harrold’s son, Keyon Jr. of stealing her iPhone at the Arlo Soho Hotel in New York City, only to discover moments later that it was left behind in an Uber.

“I hate I have to post this,” Harrold, a wrote in the video’s caption.

“I typically try to keep things positive, but nothing about this video is positive. The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the Arlo Soho to get breakfast. This person quote on quote ‘lost’ her iPhone, and apparently, my son magically acquired it, which merely ridiculous.”

The viral video incident

In the video, the woman is seen urgently telling the hotel manager that the 14-year-old had taken her phone. As the teenager said, “this is my phone,” Harrold intervened, telling him: “You don’t have to explain nothing to her.”

As she continued to insist that it’s her phone and asked for it to be proven that it’s not, Harrold replied: “Are you kidding me? You feel like there’s only one iPhone in the world?”

The woman then lunges and tells Harrold the “Find My iPhone” setting is off on her phone and points at his son and says its her phone he is holding.

The hotel manager then starts to question Harrold’s son, and Harrold tells him he doesn’t have the authority to talk to him. The manager says, “I’m trying to settle this situation.”

The manager of the hotel asked to see the wallpaper on the teen’s phone, to which Harrold responded: “No! This is my son!”

Grammy-Winning Trumpeter’s son traumatized

When Harrold says his son has nothing to do with the woman, she says, “Then show me the proof. He’s not leaving. Show me the proof.”

The woman then runs to follow Harrold and his son down a hallway yelling, “I’m not letting him walk away with my phone. She then lunges at Harrold and falls to the ground, telling a security officer to get her phone back. The video ends with the woman shoving Harrold.

According to Harrold, the woman had stayed in the hotel, but checked out on Dec. 23. While the video was only one minute, Harrold said in the post that the incident lasted for over five minutes.

Harrold reports that the woman’s phone was soon returned by an Uber driver. “No apology from her after this traumatic situation to my son, not me,” he wrote. “No apologies from the establishment. This shit happens so often. It needs to stop!!! If anyone recognizes this person, please tag or DM.”

Harrold told The New York Times he believed he had been racially profiled by the woman: “I wonder what would happen if it were different, if it were a black woman and there was a white 14-year-old,” he said. “They assumed he was guilty. The management didn’t even question her as to why she would even think he had the phone.”

Hotel apologizes to Grammy-Winning Trumpeter’s son and father

Arlo Hotels has since apologized, “We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo hotel. In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence; still, more could have been done to de-escalate the dispute. No Arlo guest – or any person – should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience, and have reached out to them directly to express our sincere regret and to offer help in dealing with this traumatic event. We are committed to making sure this never happens again at any of our hotels.”

Harrold filed a police report Saturday and the NYPD is currently investigating the incident, reports The New York Times.

About Grammy-winning trumpeter Keyon Harrold

Keyon Harrold, Twitter

Harrold, a 40-year-old St. Louis native, is a Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, vocalist, songwriter and producer, who has worked alongside Rihanna, Common, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, D’Angelo and many other major stars in the music industry. In 2017, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis told Downbeat that Harrold is the “future of the trumpet.”

Harrold released his first solo album, Introducing Keyon Harrold, in 2009 and played the trumpet for the soundtrack to the 2015 Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead starring Don Cheadle. His second album The Mugician was released in 2017.