A white woman at the center of a now viral video offered some explanation for her bizarre behavior over the weekend. New Jersey police also face backlash for their handling of the incident that ended with no charges for the woman now dubbed “Victoria’s Secret Karen.”
The woman was caught on camera attacking a Black woman then promptly began to have a temper tantrum in an attempt to play victim during a confrontation that took place on Saturday, July 10.
The incident, which was captured and uploaded to YouTube and TikTok on July 12 by the victim Ijeoma Ukenta, a Nigerian Muslim woman, began while the two were shopping at a Victoria’s Secret store located in the Short Hills mall in New Jersey. In one of many clips circulating the internet, the white woman, identified in an apparent police report displayed on YouTube by Ukenta as Abigail Elphick, is seen charging toward Ukenta as if to strike her.
Ukenta explained in the video that she was just browsing through the store when Elphick moved in front of her, pushing her out the way. That’s when she decided to start recording, catching the woman coming toward her.
When Elphick realized that her behavior was caught on camera, she collapsed on the floor into a total meltdown and began crying and screaming, “Don’t record me!” She then started shouting, and at one point, pretends to faint in front of the registers.
In other videos the camera catches her yelling at Ukenta to stop recording her, screaming, “Get the f-ck away!” Ukenta maintains her distance throughout the ordeal before Elphick starts chasing her around the store yelling, “Get away from me!”
Ultimately, mall security arrived and then called the Millburn Police Department whose officers many online are saying did a “horrible job” at handling the situation. The authorities informed Ukenta that they couldn’t remove the woman despite her behavior.
“Those videos are truly disturbing and millburn police department should be embarrassed at the horrible job they did rectifying the situation for Ms. Ukenta ..,” wrote one Twitter user.
“There were many egregious violations of your rights and overall well being by both Millburn Police Department and Short Hills Mall security,” commented another person. “Abigail Elphick should have been arrested {and still needs to be arrested} and at the very least charged with assault & attempted larceny.”
The officer has since been identified online with a screenshot of a portion of a police report and his image from the recording.
Ukenta, who read from the police report in videos posted to YouTube, described it as “somewhat true.” The document stated that Elphick admitted to culpability. “Miss Elphick seemed to acknowledge that she was wrong, saying she was concerned about losing her job and apartment if the video posted online. She was having a panic attack about the videotaping,” the report read.
While many internet sleuths have been busy hoping to identify Elphick’s workplace, her job appears to be secured at the moment. One tweet identified Cedar Grove high school in Essex County, New Jersey as her place of employment as a teacher’s aide and called for many who sympathized with Ukenta to email the school demanding Elphick’s termination. After numerous calls and emails, Cedar Grove was forced to clarify Elphick has never worked for the school.
Ukenta explained in an update video that she was glad she recorded the entire situation, because several discrepancies appeared in the report that didn’t match what the public saw in the various clips, like officers refusing to adequately explain to Ukenta the proper procedures to share her videos with them via email.
Elsewhere, Ukenta who claimed she was kicked off Tiktok for posting the videos, created a GoFundMe account to help her seek justice. “I’m looking to hire me an excellent attorney who can help me bring light to this wrong,” she wrote. Adding, “I have been wronged Abigail Elphick (Karen in my videos,) Short Hills Mall security, Millburn Police Department, and most of all humanity.” The fundraiser had a goal of $20,000, but as of this writing it had surpassed $74,000.
