Lawyer for the hospital worker at the center of a viral bike video says her life has been 'effectively destroyed' by false allegations

• The NYC hospital worker at the center of the viral video has had her life "effectively destroyed," her lawyer said.
• "The whole thing is so ridiculous," lawyer Justin Marino told Insider of the backlash to the footage.

The white New York City hospital worker at the center of a now-viral video in which she is accused of trying to take a rental bicycle from a young Black man is facing an onslaught of threats and has had her life "effectively destroyed" by false allegations, the woman's attorney told Insider on Thursday.

Lawyer Justin Marino called his pregnant client a healthcare "hero" who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said people are accusing her of being a "racist villain" because of "a tiny snippet of a video."

"The whole thing is so ridiculous," Marino told Insider of the mass backlash.

The viral one-minute and 30-second video shows the woman repeatedly screaming for help as she grips the handlebars of a Citi Bike while a Black man also holds on and says the bike is his.

During the incident, the woman shouted, "Please help me, help! Please get off me" and told the Black man, "Get off me. Get off me. You are hurting my fetus" before appearing to cry, the footage shows.

Marino told Insider that his client — an NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue staffer — paid for the Citi Bike herself and has the receipts to prove it.

Marino also said he doesn't "judge" his client for how she reacted in the video.

The video has gotten tens of millions of views on social media, with users condemning the woman as "racist."

"There's no racial statements. There's nothing, but suddenly she's a 'Karen,' which you and I understand to be a racist," Marino said.

The attorney said that his client is now "in hiding" because people are going to her house and "threatening her."

The woman was placed on leave from her job following the incident, which NYC Health + Hospitals — New York City's public hospital system — called "disturbing" as it said it was investigating what happened.