The Manhattan District Attorney has finally announced charges against Amy Cooper, the white woman who went viral in late May (also known as a lifetime ago) when she was filmed falsely accusing a Black man of threatening her life in Central Park.
She has been charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year’s prison sentence. Cooper is unlikely to see the inside of a jail cell, but she’s sure to regard the backlash she received following her viral fame as punishment enough. On Memorial Day, Christian Cooper—no relation—was watching birds in the Ramble, a section of Central Park where dogs must wear a leash. Christian spotted Amy Cooper and her leash-free dog, which he claims was tearing through the delicate plants in the area. He reminded her of the rule. Amy refused, and accused Christian of threatening her, an accusation Christian caught on camera.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life,” Amy says, after demanding he stop filming her.
She is then seen frantically speaking to a 9-1-1 operator, claiming that Christian—“an African-American man”—was threatening her and her dog, who appeared to be in more distress from Amy lifting him by his collar than by Christian, who was just trying to enjoy some fucking birds.
Despite Amy launching a swift apology tour, the backlash to the altercation got her fired from her cushy job at a financial firm and forced her to give up her dog (the dog was later returned to her).
How she wasn’t also charged with literally endangering a human, I have no fucking idea, but this was more than just time wasted. A life could have been lost, too.