Woman in widely seen hotel confrontation charged in New York

A 22-year-old woman from California, who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone and tackled him at a New York City hotel in a widely seen video, was charged after returning to the city.

Miya Ponsetto was charged with attempted robbery, grand larceny, acting in a manner injurious to a child and two counts of attempted assault, according to city police.

Ponsetto's confrontation with 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr on December 26 was posted online. It showed an agitated woman demanding the teenagers phone, claiming he stole it. The phone was found soon afterward in an Uber.

The charges follow more than a week of intense media coverage of the hotel lobby encounter and demands by the teens family and activists that she face criminal charges.

Ponsetto apologised but defended herself in a television interview conducted before she was arrested in California.

"I dont feel that that is who I am as a person. I dont feel like this one mistake does define me," she said in a 'CBS This Morning' interview that aired on Friday.

"But I do sincerely from the bottom of my heart apologise that if I made the son feel as if I assaulted him or if I hurt his feelings or the father's feelings."