Amy Cooper, the “Central Park Karen” who called the New York Police Department to report a black man watching birds in Central Park, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of filing a false police report, the New York Post reports.
Cooper dialed 9-1-1 to report Christian Cooper, a black man who asked Amy Cooper to keep her dog on a leash or move to a part of the park where dogs could be off-leash, according to Christian Cooper, who videoed the incident and posted it on social media.
Amy Cooper told Christian Cooper that she planned to tell police that “there’s an African American man threatening my life,” potentially putting Christopher in danger of police brutality. In the video, Christian responds, “Please tell them whatever you like.”
“There is an African American man. I am in Central Park. He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog,” Amy can be heard reporting to the dispatcher. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear … I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble, please send the cops immediately.”
The video quickly went viral, and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio labeled Amy Cooper “racist.” “She called the police BECAUSE he was a Black man,” he said on Twitter. “Even though she was the one breaking the rules. She decided he was the criminal and we know why.”
Cooper was eventually fired from her job at investment company Franklin Templeton.
On Tuesday, the Manhattan District Attorney announced that Amy Cooper would be facing charges.
“Today our office initiated prosecution of Amy Cooper,” the office said in a statement issued Monday. “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.”
According to the New York courts, a person can be charged with filing a false report when “knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, he or she initiates or circulates a false report or warning of an alleged occurrence or impending occurrence of a crime, catastrophe or emergency under circumstances in which it is not unlikely that public alarm or inconvenience will result.”
The New York penal code lists the offense as a class A misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail, three years on probation, or a $1,000 fine.
Amy Cooper will appear in court in mid-October.
NYC mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted his approval for the Manhattan DA’s decision, telling social media that Cooper’s “racist behavior could have had dire consequences for a Black man. Glad she’ll face consequences of her own.”