Amy Cooper charged after calling cops on Black man in Central Park, DA says
Amy Cooper, a white woman who called the police on a Black man in Central Park on Memorial Day, has been charged for falsely reporting an incident, Manhattan’s district attorney said on Monday.
“Today our Office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree,” Cy Vance, Jr., Manhattan D.A., said in a statement. “Our office will provide the public with additional information as the case proceeds. At this time I would like to encourage anyone who has been the target of false reporting to contact our Office. We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable.”
Amy Cooper will be arraigned on Oct. 14 and was given a desk appearance ticket, according to the statement. She could face a conditional discharge, community service, or counseling instead of jail time if convicted, the The New York Times reported.
The viral incident was caught on video and showed Christian Cooper, a Black man, telling Amy Cooper to put her dog on a leash while in that section of the park. Christian Cooper posted the video on Facebook and wrote that Amy Cooper’s dog was “tearing through the plantings.”
In the video, Amy Cooper told Christian Cooper: “I’m calling the cops” and “I’m gonna tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.”
“Please tell them whatever you like,” Christian Cooper said.
“I’m in the Ramble, there is a man, African-American, he has a bicycle helmet and he is recording me and threatening me and my dog,” Amy Cooper told a 911 operator. “I am being threatened by a man in the Ramble, please send the cops immediately!”
Amy Cooper lost her job after the incident went viral and her dog was temporarily relinquished to Abandoned Angels, a rescue where she adopted her dog from years ago.
“I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family,” Amy Cooper told NBC New York. “It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologize to everyone who’s seen that video, everyone that’s been offended … everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.”
Christian Cooper accepted her apology, Fox News reported.
“It’s a first step,” he said. “I think she’s got to do some reflection on what happened because up until the moment when she made that statement and made that phone call, it was just a conflict between a birder and a dog walker, and then she took it to a very dark place. I think she’s got to sort of examine why and how that happened.”
