A white woman who called the cops on a black man asking her to leash her dog has been fired. She has also lost her dog, according to the shelter where she adopted it, and now says her life has been “destroyed”.
Amy Cooper was walking her unleashed dog in the Bramble in New York City’s Central Park, a popular area for bird watchers where dogs must be leashed at all times.
Christian Cooper (no relation), an avid birdwatcher, asked her to restrain her dog. She refused. The two went back and forth, and when Christian began filming the encounter, Amy called the police.
“I’m taking a picture and calling the cops,” Amy Cooper is heard saying in a video Christian posted to Facebook.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
By the time NYPD officers arrived, both parties had left the park. No arrests or summonses were made.
In his Facebook post, Christian Cooper said that he pulled out dog treats for the dog, which he carries for “such intransigence”. (He later explained it was his trick to get dog owners to leash their dogs in the park, since they usually did once a stranger offered treats.)
“I didn’t even get a chance to toss any treats to the pooch before Karen scrambled to grab the dog,” he said on Facebook.
“That’s when I started video recording with my iPhone, and when her inner Karen fully emerged and took a dark turn…”
Christian Cooper later told CNN he filmed the encounter because he “thought it was important to document things”, referencing the recent arrests over the shooting death of a black man only after video was shared on social media.
“Unfortunately we live in an era with things like Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are seen as targets. This woman thought she could exploit that to her advantage, and I wasn’t having it,” Christian said.
This is Christian Cooper. pic.twitter.com/gOQyVztX5h
— Stop Cop City (@JoshuaPHilll) May 26, 2020
Since the video went viral, Amy Cooper has been fired from her investment banking job.
“Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton,” her former employer company said on Twitter.
Her dog – which the video shows her holding him up by his collar – has been surrendered back to the shelter where he was adopted from while the “dispute is addressed”.
Amy Cooper told CNN her “entire life is being destroyed right now”, but that she wants to “publicly apologise to everyone”.
“I’m not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way,” she said.
When asked if he would accept her apology, Christian Cooper replied: “If it’s genuine and if she plans on keeping her dog on a leash in the Ramble going forward, then we have no issues with each other.”
