Woman in racist runin made a second 911 call
NEWYORK — Amy Cooper, the white woman charged with filing a false police report for calling 911 during a dispute with a Black man in New York’s Central Park in May, made a second, previously unreported call in which she falsely claimed the man had “tried to assault her,” a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Assistant District Attorney Joan IlluzziOrbon described the second call as Cooper was being arraigned by video in a case that had garnered worldwide attention but was put on hold for months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cooper did not enter a plea to the misdemeanor charge.
In the first 911 call, which was captured on a widely seen video of the confrontation, Cooper told a dispatcher only that the man, a birdwatcher named Christian Cooper, was threatening her. The second call was not recorded on video, but a 911 dispatcher provided prosecutors with a sworn affidavit regarding the calls, Illuzzi said.
“Using police in a way that was both racially offensive and designed to intimidate is something that can’t be ignored. Therefore we charged her,” said Illuzzi, whose last highprofile prosecution sent HarveyWeinstein to prison for rape.
The case was adjourned until
Nov. 17 to allow prosecutors and her lawyer to work on a possible resolution that Illuzzi said could see Cooper participating in a program to educate her and the community “on the harm caused by such actions.”
Illuzzi didn’t get into details on what actions Cooper might be required to take, but said the 40yearold former investment portfolio manager would have to take responsibility for her actions. The criminal process “can be an opportunity for introspection and education,” Illuzzi said. The range of options could include some type of racial sensitivity training or a public awareness campaign.
Cooper drew widespread condemnation and was fired from her job at investment firm Franklin Templeton after frantically calling 911 to claim she was being threatened by “an
African American man,” Christian Cooper, who had confronted her for walking her dog without a leash. On the video Christian Cooper recorded of Amy Cooper, he sounded calm and appeared to keep a safe distance from her.
There is no relation between Christian Cooper and Amy Cooper.
In the video posted on social media, Christian Cooper claimed her cocker spaniel was “tearing through the plantings“in the Ramble, a secluded section of Central Park popular with birdwatchers, and told her she should go to another part of the park. When she refused, he pulled out dog treats, causing her to scream at him to not come near her dog.
Amy Cooper’s 911 calls, which happened the same day that Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, were seen by many as a stark example of everyday racism and fueled outrage in the period leading up to street protests sparked by Floyd’s death.