Amy Cooper, the white woman caught on video calling the police and claiming a Black man was threatening her, was charged on Monday by the Manhattan district attorney over the incident.
Ms. Cooper will be charged with falsely reporting an incident in the third degree, District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement.
“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,” Mr. Vance said.
Ms. Cooper was sent a ticket and her arraignment is set for October 14.
False race-based police reports were criminalized in New York last month as the state and country grapple with racial inequality.
The demands for change in policing and escalating racial tensions began in earnest in late May when George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Around the same time as Mr. Floyd’s death, the video featuring Ms. Cooper arguing with Christian Cooper, a Black birdwatcher in the park, went viral and sparked national outrage.
The two were arguing about keeping Ms. Cooper’s dog on a leash, which is required under park rules.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” Amy Cooper is heard saying in the video as she pulls down her face mask and struggles to control her dog.
“Please call the cops,” Mr. Cooper says.
Ms. Cooper argued that she was being harassed and called the police to report an “African American” man was “threatening me and my dog.”
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
Ms. Cooper was fired from her job at Franklin Templeton, an investment management company, and forfeited her dog to the adoption organization she got him from after receiving backlash for how she handled him in the video. Ms. Cooper got her dog back last month after it was found to be “in good health.”
• This article is based in part on wire-service reports.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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