It was recently announced that Amy Cooper would face charges for filing a false police report on a Black man in Central Park. But the man she falsely called the police on, Christian Cooper, wants nothing to do with it.
Christian Cooper told the NY Times that he felt Amy Cooper has suffered enough, having lost her job and reputation. “On the one hand, she’s already paid a steep price. That’s not enough of a deterrent to others? Bringing her more misery just seems like piling on.” He continued to state that if DA Cyrus Vance wants to pursue charges, he can do so without Christian’s help.
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People have been voicing mixed opinions on Christian’s decision to avoid cooperation with the DA. Some are criticizing him, stating that the incident needs to be legally addressed as a hate crime with his help, so that an example can be made of Amy Cooper and future false police reports against people of color can be reduced and discouraged.
Charges Against Amy Cooper Dropped
Others are praising his forgiveness, while also opining that a harsher criminal sentence won’t necessarily teach Amy Cooper any lessons.
The incident between the two Cooper’s took place on Memorial Day, when both were at the Ramble in Central Park. Amy was walking her dog unleashed, Christian was birdwatching. Christian asked Amy to leash her dog; Amy said no, and Christian attempted to lure the dog with treats so that Amy would restrain him. At this point, the rant began and would soon be followed by a frantic phone call to the police, at which point Amy falsely told them that an African American man was threatening her and her dog.
If charged, Amy Cooper could face a sentencing as harsh as one year in jail, but the NY Times believes “she is likely to receive a conditional discharge or be sentenced to community service or counseling.” The publication also states that “Mr. Cooper’s decision not to cooperate may present some challenges for prosecutors.”
It’s an awful mean world at times, and some compassion here by Mr. Cooper, who was the victim in this, gives me some hope that we can always choose, do our part, to make it less mean.
I respect Mr Cooper’s position on this. I don’t know him but my sense is that he is concerned that piling on charges in this one incident offers something of an “out” to law enforcement, making Ms Cooper an easy scapegoat for all the incidents in which Black men are profiled and endangered by police and others. All too easy to then say: “NYC law enforcement isn’t racist. Look how we went after Amy Cooper.”
Y’know, this guy appointed himself as a vigilante fighting the owners of unleashed dogs. It was his habit and it was risky behavior. I lived for 36 years near Central Park and came across unleashed dogs all the time; haven’t you? It’s annoying but who died and left me boss? Unless the dog is jumping on you, the sensible thing is to say nothing On that morning, Mr. Cooper, the self-appointed dog cop, a “Kevin” who balled out someone he felt she was breaking rules, encountered a high-strung white female and got into an altercation with her, telling at her at one point that if she kept on, he’d do something “she wouldn’t like,” a menacing thing to say. This was a big ol’ urban spitstorm, and neither party was in the right. If you want to argue that Ms. Coooper’s response was worse, I wouldn’t disagree. Her words to 911 were racially charged and they were ugly. But Mr. Cooper wasn’t blameless and he seems to have sorted things through in an equitable way and I say good on him.
I agree. He isn’t blameless and he’s a vigilante. If you watch the video closely, his recording starts when she’s already in the act of leashing the dog but she stops when she notices he’s recording. She becomes upset because he doesn’t stop recording after she asks him a few times to please stop. He says he started recording because he thought she was a “Karen” based on their extremely limited interaction, but most people gloss over that reason. She shouldn’t have said what she did, but let’s not overlook that he instigated the whole ordeal when he started recording after stereotyping her. Does Mr. Cooper’s actions now allow others to stereotype African Americans and begin recording them for simply explaining themselves and then responding in alarm to a menacing statement? Because that’s all that prompted Mr. Cooper to stereotype her and start recording. If you disagree, re-watch the video and re-read Mr. Cooper’s original account of the incident. You have to read his original account because he’s changed his story since then to leave out that he started recording because he racially profiled her as a Karen for trying to explain herself and protect her dog. The irony is that in the past he’s protested against stop-and-frisk, but then becomes famous for acting out on his own racial stereotype.
Really happy to see both of these comments. I can’t help but feel the world is in uproar and BLM is not about equality (that exists already for non criminals and upstanding, contributing members of our society), but about trying to punish white people for the acts of few today and many long ago. The positive response of organizations and white people to this seems forced. A sign in my neighborhood says “white silence equals violence”. Not great messaging. If you’re white right now in our country, you are in a no win situation. It’s nice to see honest comments for a change. It would be even nicer if we can all be kind and fair with one another, regardless of color. At the end of the day Mr. Cooper and Ms. Cooper are both A holes.
Excellent points. Mr. Cooper could have made some different choices in all of this but I guess my point, mostly, is that it is a good thing, I think, that he said, enough is enough.
And yeah, very odd to make yourself the enforcer there, carrying around treats to lure dogs, to do what you feel like to have things go your way.
Pets are family to pet owners.
Don’t mess with people’s family.
No one should be plotting, thinking along those lines.
That is looking for trouble right there.
I don’t think that “Kevin” thing is gonna stick. Nice try though. And it’s “bawled out”, not balled. That sounds sexual. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I would have fixed a couple of linguistic errors fast if it were possible to edit here, but it isn’t. I don’t care if the “Kevin thing” sticks, but it seems the “vigilante” thing has and I’m surprised. I expected hate posts. But please let me be clear. I think that both parties were at fault that day. I don’t think that Ms. Cooper ought to have lost her job over this, let alone her reputation.
I believe Me. Cooper looks for Or is prepared for unsuspecting dog owners off leash. Who walks around with dog biscuits that doesn’t have a dog? I believe I encountered him too and he threatened to put a leash on my dog in Strawberry fields one early morning. I did not think of his race but put the doody I had in my plastic bag and was going to put it in his face if he did not back off. It was early disconcerting and in hindsight I thought of lot’s of different possible out comes not all gr8
A lot of people are framing him as an abolitionist. He said a couple of weeks ago that there should be more police presence in the park. In a way, I agree. I dont think they should be there just to arrest or hurt people, in fact, there’s plenty of people who dont escalate situations and just mind their own buisness- even if they are doing something that is outside of regulations. Sadly, I think security would be needed in situations like this to prevent two people from ruining each others lives. She really messed up when she threatened him by emphasizing his race, I could kind of tell in her face, she just wanted him to go away and leave her alone and she thought this would make him go away fast. I dont think she believed he was going to get caught but he MIGHTVE. I think that even though he has shown compassion after the fact, did he not know the affects of posting her face on social media? This scenario is ridiculous. They were both like two hungry dogs fighting for food when there was simply just no food. This is the crux of political conflict, probably. Anyway, yeah sure if Amy Cooper gets some kind of fine- Christian Cooper might need to get a ticket for disturbing the peace , since he was not an authority and should’ve have been luring her dog away from her, even if he believed she would leash it. Like who wants to be told what to do by someone you didn’t agree to as an authority? I dont think anyone hopes for that. Anyway, black people need some sort of assurance from being abused by authority, reparations of an agreed sort. However, Amy Cooper needs reparations for being a fucking scapegoat in the time of upheaval. She’s not an evil politician mastermind, she’s a civilian. Protect civilians not use them as little puppets people. The fact that a little woman like that could’ve gotten someone else killed by calling the police during an escalated situation like that, makes it a larger issue. They both lost their wits, maybe CC would argue that he didn’t or something, but the fact that her video was posted and it rained like that on her is also reflective or a larger issue. Give these two people a break, the media and the politicians needs to make an excellent example in order to restore their dignity as civilians or well just rage on divided because we are demoralized.
I don’t see this as racial, just somewhat inconsiderate people needing to feel respected, even if it’s in the simplest routine of taking a walk in the park. Everyone on planet earth goes for the point of difference when in a conflict. HE doesn’t like dogs off leash. SHE didn’t like being told how to handle her dog. Let’s all remember to be a little more civil to each other as we make our way through this surreal time.
I like adults who can fight and make up like adults or at least scream at each other and walk away and go on with their day, ESPECIALLY over minor disputes…rather than drag the whole world into something.
So I take neither side. I dislike both parties.
And I extremely dislike the response from many in society and how quick people are to destroy people over minor disputes. This was a minor dispute. The punishment should fit the crime. People need to chill the fuck out.
There are so many people I dislike. I don’t know how I will survive this world.