Amy Cooper—‘memba her? The white woman who went viral in a video around Memorial Day that showed her calling the cops on a Black man, birdwatcher Christian Cooper (no relation) after he politely requested she put her dog on its leash in Central Park’s Ramble, an area which requires dogs to be on leashes? “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life,” she told Christian after he began filming her phone call to the NYPD. “He’s threatening me.” The threat, of course, was implied; Cooper’s race would be interpreted by the cops as a menacing detail. Now, well, she’s baaaaaack.
According to The New York Times, Amy Cooper allegedly made a second phone call to NYPD, previously unreleased to the public, claiming explicitly that Christian Cooper “tried to assault her.”
“The defendant twice reported that an African American man was putting her in danger, first by stating that he was threatening her and her dog, then making a second call indicating that he tried to assault her in the Ramble area of the park,” Senior prosecutor Joan Illuzzi said in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, adding that Amy had used police in a fashion that was “both racially offensive and designed to intimidate... something that can’t be ignored.” Illuzzi said the Manhattan district attorney’s office is “exploring a resolution to the case that would require Ms. Cooper to publicly take responsibility for her actions in court and attend a program to educate her on how harmful they were,” The New York Times reports.
Amy Cooper appeared in court, remotely, after being charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year’s prison sentence.
The case has adjourned until Nov. 17 as Amy’s lawyer, Robert Barnes, Illuzzi and other prosectors settle on an agreement.
DISCUSSION
I still can’t believe she got her dog back.
I’m curious as to how effective these education programs are with offenders. Amy may not have realized the historical and deep-rooted implications of what she was doing, but she sure as shit knew that lying to police about a Black man was wrong.
If you knew at the time your action was wrong, then it’s not a matter of being ill-informed.
I wonder if she'll be deported. Is that even an option?