"She's been called a racist. She's been called a thief. There are reasons defamation laws exist, and we plan to pursue that."

Lawyer for woman at the center of viral Citi Bike video is planning to sue the media. pic.twitter.com/ZLUB8ehKwx

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 19, 2023

The woman, Sarah Jane Comrey, got into a heated incident when a group of young black men claimed she attempted to steal a rental bike they paid for in New York City. She was later was placed on leave by her employer after a video of the incident went viral on social media. Many in the media labeled Comrey the “Citi Bike Karen” and even accused her of racism, leading her to go into hiding, her lawyer said.

“We are gonna get an answer when we start filing defamation lawsuits,” her attorney Justin Marino told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer Friday. “She’s been called a racist, she’s been called a thief, there are reasons defamation laws exist, and we plan to pursue that.”

[It turned out that Comrey had rented the bike and the men in the video had stolen it from her. They passed off the video by claiming the opposite, and the media — which clearly didn’t learn a damned thing from the Sandmann defamation actions — leapt to promote their narrative. I’d guess a number of outlets will be issuing belated corrections and retractions, but I’m not sure it will help at this point. They’d better open their checkbooks as well. David had more on this earlier today as well. — Ed]