The case against a White Woman who had called police on a black man who was bird watching claiming that he had threatened her in New York City’s Central Park has been dropped. According to prosecutors, the white woman, Amy Cooper, completed a racial bias therapy course and requested for the criminal case’s dismissal.
Manhattan Supreme Court drops criminal charge against Amy Cooper
Manhattan Supreme Court persecutors said that they were not pursuing a misdemeanor charge against Cooper for falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. The woman completed five psychoeducation and therapy courses which helped her “appreciated that racial identities shape our lives and we cannot use them to harm ourselves or others,” said Joan Illuzzi, the Assistant District Attorney.
Illuzzi said that Ms. Cooper’s therapist had indicated that it was a moving experience, and she learned a lot in the therapy sessions. With the woman completing the restorative justice program to the prosecutors’ satisfaction, Illuzzi said they were moving to dismiss the charge.
Last year a video of Ms. Cooper went viral and sparked outrage globally. In the video, she was seen threatening a Black man, Christian Cooper, who was bird-watching with the police. The man had reportedly asked her to keep her dog on the lead before, she threatened him by calling the police. This incident occurred the same day an unarmed black man George Floyd died in police custody, triggering weeks of anti-racism protests in the US and globally.
Ms. Cooper falsely claimed that Mr. Cooper had threatened her
Christian Cooper, a prominent bird watcher in New York, posted the video on Facebook, showing him asking Ms. Cooper to put her dog on a lead in the area since it is required. However, Ms. Cooper threatened that she will tell the police that an African-American man was threatening her life. She later called the emergency services in a distressed tone saying that an “African American man” was threatening her and her dog and asked dispatchers to send cops immediately.
Although this was a false claim, Ms. Cooper repeated the claim and accused Mr. Cooper of trying to assault her. Prosecutors indicated at the time that she had engaged in racist criminal conduct, and it was fortunate that no incident following police response to her hoax.
Following the dismissal of the charge, Ms. Cooper’s defense attorney struck a defiant tone in a statement issued following the dismissal. Despite thanking prosecutors for their integrity, Robert Barnes took to Twitter to lash out. He said that people rushed to conclusions based on an inadequate investigation, and they face legal consequences.
Mr. Cooper didn’t want to be involved in the case
Although Mr. Cooper didn’t want to be involved in the criminal justice process, Illuzzi indicated that they determined the defendant’s offense wasn’t against one individual, but rather a threat to the community if it went unchecked. She said that no one should use the police to threaten another person, and in the case in a charged a racially offensive way.
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