Police said Thursday night that Miya Ponsetto was taken into custody by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. New York police detectives, who flew to California to assist in the search, were also present for the arrest.
Ventura County sheriff’s assistants planned to stop traffic due to her New York arrest warrant, but she refused to stop and drove slowly through the Piru, Calif. Neighborhood, officials said.
When she stopped, she struggled and resisted arrest. ABC News reports that she had to be physically restrained and arrested.
Ponsetto is being held without bail and will have an extradition hearing. Once she is done with New York, she could also face charges in California for resisting arrest and possibly persecution.
Ponsetto was confirmed as the woman in the December 26 video by her lawyer, Sharen Ghatan.
Ghatan said Ponsetto is “emotionally ill” and remorseful.
RELATED: New video shows a woman attacking an innocent black teenager who she thought stole her phone at a hotel in New York
The conflict at the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan between Ponsetto and Keyon Harrold Jr., aged 14, was recorded by his father, jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and posted online.
In her video, an agitated woman is seen demanding that her phone be returned while a hotel manager tries to resolve the situation.
Security video released later by the NYPD shows the woman frantically chasing the teenager as he tried to get out of the hotel door. She saw him grabbing him from behind before they both hit the floor. Harrold said the phone was returned by an Uber driver shortly after.
The altercation drew comparisons to cases like that of Amy Cooper, a white woman who was accused of filing a false report for calling 911 and saying she was being threatened by “an African American man” during a dispute in New York’s Central Park York in May.
Harrold appealed to the Manhattan district attorney to file charges of assault and battery against Ponsetto.
Ghatan said he spoke to his client, who lives near Los Angeles, on Thursday, and that “she seems like a person who is not well”.
She said that Ponsetto “attacked” with concern over the disappearance of his phone and that there was no racial motivation.
“It could have been anyone,” she said.
Watch: The Harrold family speaks to ‘GMA’:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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