Cooper disunion

Of course you remember: Six weeks ago, in a Central Park encounter that went viral, dog walker Amy Cooper pulled out her cellphone and called 911 on an avid birdwatcher, Christian Cooper. In exaggerated tones, Ms. Cooper, who is white, told operators that “an AfricanAmerican man is threatening me and my dog,” and asked police to come immediately.

Fairminded observers could see she was weaponizing race. They understood her complaint risked having cops rush in, armed, to confront the birdwatcher, a conflict that could end tragically.

But a moral crime is not necessarily a legal one, which is what Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance wants to make it. Monday, Vance slapped Ms. Cooper with a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report.

Unlike cases where a person created a fake hate-crime out of whole cloth, words were exchanged between the Coopers.

On Facebook, Mr. Cooper described chastising Ms. Cooper for letting her dog run off-leash. When she ignored him, he says he told her, “Look, if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.” He then tried to lure the dog with treats.

Ms. Cooper properly became a pariah. She also lost her job. Mr. Cooper thinks she’s suffered enough. It’s a heavy lift to convict when doing so requires proving an intent to fabricate. As to Vance, in throwing the book at a woman for distorting the truth to cops, his own prosecutors risk distorting the truth to a judge.