Whitney Gregory via KTL5/YouTube
April 11, 2022, 6:32 am
A woman named Susan Garcia was caught on a GoPro camera grabbing a 12-year-old as he rode on the side walk in her gated community in Santa Ana, California, KTLA reports. The camera was mounted on Jeffrey Vandervort’s handlbars, and she is now being charged with battery and earned a new internet nickname: Sidewalk Karen.
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Garcia appears very agitated in the video to find a few kids biking on the sidewalk. She would much prefer they bike in the street with cars. She aggressively approaches Vandervort on his bike, who warns her not to touch him. She replies, “I’ll do what I want.”
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I’m sorry, who is the kid in this situation?
“She walked over to me and just started yelling and pushed me into this little tree and then hit me in the back,” the 12-year-old told KTLA. He called for his mom to come outside, and Garcia only got angrier.
“Come on out mom, let’s have a little talk with mom,” she yells in the video. Vandervort’s mother, Whitney Gregory, told KTLA that her son had nearly been hit by a car, so she advised him to stick to the sidewalk. Garcia has accused the pre-teen of trying to run her over as she walked, but the video shows him braking. Towards the end of the video, the boy’s father comes out of the house as well, and Garcia retreats, yelling, “Shame on you!”
“People in the neighborhood should come directly to the parent, they should never confront a child, harass a child,” Gregory said. “It’s so outrageous.”
Gregory called the police to press charges when she reviewed the GoPro footage. Technically, you’re not supposed to ride on the sidewalk, but that’s more common courtesy than a legal obligation. Shoving a child is definitely against the rules.
*First Published: April 11, 2022, 6:32 am
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