Central Park 'Karen' Amy Cooper charged for calling cops on Black birdwatcher, could see a year in jail
Central Park 'Karen', Amy Cooper, was arrested on July 6 and she is facing almost a year in jail if convicted. Cooper had called the police on a Black bird watcher who had requested her to keep her dog on a leash while at Central Park. The 41-year-old woman was hit with one count of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.
She was also given a desk appearance ticket and was told to return to court on October 14 for her sentencing, New York Post reveals. District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said in a statement, "Today our office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper. 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."
Social media users seemed pleased with the outcome and took to commenting on the same. One such user shared, "Good! People need to know that policemen are busy and she pretended to be in real danger, when in fact she was just being told to put her dog on a leash bc that’s the rule in that specific area. That man could have been really harmed by the police because of her actions."
Another wrote, "Excellent! Let this serve as notice to all those White people who love to call the cops on Black people for no other justifiable reason than to see them harassed or killed by the cops. Be warned that you will be prosecuted for your crime!" One wrote, "Finally! Consequences for weaponizing this man's race against him and putting his life in jeapardy! I NEVER thought I would say this but HATS OFF TO THE NYPD! This is a start... We can no longer allow this behavior go unchecked by the law. Losing a job is not enough."
Amy went viral after she called the cops on Christian Cooper who told her to put her dog on a leash while inside the park. According to the park's website, all pets are required to be kept on a leash inside.
Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm
— Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) May 25, 2020
After being told to put her dog on a leash, she refused and threatened Christian in a video that garnered a lot of attention across social media. In the video, she is heard saying, "I'm taking a picture and calling the cops. I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life."
The video shows Amy on her phone. "There's a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet," she says. "He is recording me and threatening me and my dog." The video was shared on Twitter by Christian's sister Melody Cooper.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had also called out Amy for her despicable behavior. “The video out of Central Park is racism, plain and simple,” he said on Twitter. “She called the police because he was a Black man. Even though she was the one breaking the rules, she decided he was the criminal and we know why. This kind of hatred has no place in our city.”