Amy Cooper Charged Made Second False Allegation Against Black Birdwatcher
Written by SOURCE on October 14, 2020
Amy Cooper, the white woman who went viral for accusing a Black man of threatening her in Central Park, reportedly made a second call in which she falsely told the police that a birdwatcher “tried to assault her.”
The New York Times reports that Cooper not only called police to say the Black birdwatcher, Christian Cooper, had threatened her and her dog, but she also made a second call to the NYPD to say he “tried to assault her.” Senior Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi said Cooper had utilized her calls to the police in a manner that was “both racially offensive and designed to intimidate.” She added that her behavior in the situation “can’t be ignored.” The Manhattan district attorney’s office is currently looking at a way to resolve the case, with Illuzzi exploring the possibility of requiring Cooper to attend a program that will educate her on why what she did was so harmful.
When police arrived at the scene, prosecutors indicated that Cooper admitted no such assault had taken place despite what she told dispatchers. She is facing a charge of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. “As alleged in the complaint, Amy Cooper engaged in racist criminal conduct when she falsely accused a Black man of trying to assault her in a previously unreported second call with a 911 dispatcher,” District Attorney Cy Vance said, per NBC New York. “Fortunately, no one was injured or killed in the police response to Ms. Cooper’s hoax.”
The incident itself happened all the way back in May, after a video from Christian Cooper showed Amy Cooper threatening to call the police after he requested she put her dog on a leash. “I’m gonna tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she said in the clip, in which Christian can be heard calmly telling her the area of the park requires dogs to be leashed.
Shortly after the clip took off across social media, Amy Cooper lost her job over the incident. She later issued an apology, which Christian accepted. “It’s a first step, I think she’s gotta do some reflection,” he said in an interview on the View.
