Amy Cooper, the white woman who called police on a Black bird watcher who had asked her to leash her dog in a section of New York City's Central Park, will face misdemeanor charges in the incident, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance announced on Monday.
"Today our Office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree," the D.A. said in a press release. "Our office will provide the public with additional information as the case proceeds. At this time I would like to encourage anyone who has been the target of false reporting to contact our Office. We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable."
The desk appearance ticket was issued to Amy for an arraignment on Oct. 14, the release said.
Back in May, Christian Cooper, a Black man, said he asked Amy to leash her dog in the Ramble section of Central Park, then allegedly tried to bait the dog away from plants using treats.
In video he recorded of the encounter, Amy called police and told them an “African-American man” was “recording me and threatening myself and my dog,” and asked for the cops to respond to the scene “immediately.”
Amy — who was fired from her job in the aftermath and temporarily lost custody of her pet — has since apologized multiple times for the incident, calling it “unacceptable” to WNBC.
“I’m not a racist,” she told CNN. “I did not mean to harm that man in any way. [My] entire life is being destroyed right now.”
Initially, NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker said that police — who arrived on the Central Park scene to find both parties gone — would not be pursuing charges against Amy.
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