Remember Friday’s story about Teresa Sue Klein, the 53-year-old white woman who lashed out and called 911 on a 9-year-old black boy who brushed her with his backpack, accusing him of sexual assault? Well, things have taken some interesting turns in the “Cornerstore Caroline” saga.
Klein called the cops on reporters from The New York Post, though she did eventually agree to an interview.
The self-described unemployed “feminist and a humanist” variously insisted she was groped in the bodega and acknowledged the boy had only touched her accidentally — and accused his mom of pretending to be a cop, then later leaving a threatening message for her.
“I would like to apologize to her daughter and her son but not to her. She could have walked away, but she didn’t. I’m also a Buddhist, [but] I let my temper show,” Klein said.
“I’ve been called racist before, and I’m not.”
But neighbors disagreed, claiming Klein has written “racial slurs” in chalk outside the building.
“I have no idea what they’re talking about,” she told The Post.
Klein also agreed to speak with journalist Andrew Ramos, of PIX11. Ramos got an exclusive interview with the woman outside of her home. The highlights include her doubling down on her insistence that the child had grabbed her butt, and that he wasn’t the first to do so, in addition to both denying she’d seen the video and also admitting that she’d only seen it after Shaun King posted it on Instagram. Klein also declared that she’s a fan of King’s work, but he hasn’t returned her messages.
King opted to tweet his response to Klein’s assertion.
Ramos’ completed piece dropped a couple hours after the interview. It’s a doozy. Go on and watch. I’ll wait. It’s pretty amazing that she simultaneously insists she was calling 911 about the mother, rather than the child—while the video of the incident clearly shows her accusing the child of sexual assault.
The full interview, which shows quite a few neighbors screaming at Klein as she shares her hopes and dreams of resolution for this incident, can be found here.
Accusing the boy’s mother of threatening her - in person and later in a voicemail - Klein made numerous accusations, even saying during the now-viral altercation that it was the child’s mother who claimed she was a police officer despite the footage clearly showing Klein declaring “I am a cop.”
“I did not say that, if I did say that I would be surprised,” she said.
The interview was interrupted by residents who say they’ve had enough of Klein who they say has a history of calling the police.
When it comes to what she hopes comes from her viral-fame, she said she wants to make amends.
“Maybe I could sit down with the young lady who got in my face, maybe we could do the interview together,” she said. “I hold no grudges whatsoever.”
About ninety minutes after Ramos’ interview with her aired, Klein found the courage gall to return to the Sahara Deli to get a nicotine fix.
Ms. Klein, 53, returned to the store on Friday afternoon to buy cigarettes and to face her neighbors, who heckled her as she gave her version of events to journalists. Then, prompted by a reporter, Ms. Klein went inside the store and watched a playback of the bodega’s security camera footage from Wednesday evening.
Onlookers crammed inside the bodega’s doorway to watch the screening, their phone cameras pointed toward Ms. Klein. Playing on a ceiling-mounted flat-screen television, the video showed the child turning to someone behind him and his backpack brushing Ms. Klein’s backside as she leaned over the counter.
She held a box of cereal as neighbors jeered through the video, and Klein actually admitted she was wrong.
“Young man, I don’t know your name, but I’m sorry.”
Predictably, nobody is particularly soothed by Klein’s apology, but the community is focused on the attacked family’s well-being, the children in particular.
Michael Skolnik started a GoFundMe for the unnamed child. As of this writing, it’s less than $400 away from its goal.
Some locals made the very valid point that her delayed remorse doesn’t fix anything.
...the apology didn't appease angry customers gathered to watch her reaction: "It's always 'sorry,'" one man shouted. "'Sorry' don't f---ing change anything. What's 'sorry' gonna do for the kid?"
It seemed to touch off even more emotional backlash among other black men inside the store.
"Apology don't solve people's problems, man," one man said. "If it was me, I would have been incarcerated by now."
That’s a sad truth. Klein, meanwhile, is so comfortable and secure in her privilege—and the safety from repercussions to her bad behavior that it grants her—she actually returned to the scene of her crime without fear.