A Long Island
woman is facing backlash after allegedly being mistaken for a woman who went on
a rant about New York City streets being closed for a police officer killed in
the line of duty.
Jacqueline
Guzman says she has been drained and scared since a video went viral of a woman
complaining about how New York streets were shut down for NYPD Det. Jason
Rivera’s funeral.
She says she
has seen thousands of calls and threats of people targeting her.
The woman in
the rant has the same name as Guzman and once people online made the incorrect
connection, she says threats starting coming in.
“One big one I
thought was scary was when someone said, ‘I am coming for you,’” Guzman says.
The issue
flooded into Guzman’s job at Unique Gymnastics, according to her boss Jennifer
Suffis.
“It was fear,
it was crying, anger was taking over,” Suffis says. “It was like why is this
happening? She doesn’t deserve any of this.”
Unique
Gymnastics even posted a comparison photo on their Facebook to prove it was not
the Jacqueline Guzman that works at their business.
“People were saying
she still looks the same to me and it was frustrating because they were
ignorant,” Suffis says.
People then
started going after Guzman’s small business that she operates with her sister.
The two sell sweets and their online rating went from five stars to one.
“The amount of
hate we were receiving was overwhelming,” says co-owner of Sister Sweets,
Cristal Guzman.
Jacqueline
Guzman posted a video to clear up the misunderstanding and got several
apologies and some new orders into the business.
She says the
video posted was horrible and her heart hurts for the two fallen NYPD officers
and their families.
“I just want my name
to be cleared and for them to know I’m not that person that made that horrible
video,” Jacqueline Guzman says.