A New York court has dropped charges against Amy Cooper, the woman who called the police last year after a Black, gay man asked her to leash her dog in Manhattan’s Central Park. The incident — in which she falsely claimed that Christian Cooper, a former GLAAD board member, was harassing her — served a flashpoint in the ongoing conversation regarding police brutality and white people who use the legal system to perpetuate racism and injustice.
In May 2020, Christian Cooper observed Amy Cooper, a white woman, walking her dog in an area of the park where pets must be leashed. He asked her to leash the pet, at which point she became confrontational, threatening to call the police and falsely report that a Black man was “threatening [her] life.”
As Mr. Cooper recorded video of the altercation, she made good on the promise. “There is an African American man… he is recording me and threatening myself and my dog,” Ms. Cooper told a 911 operator. “Please send the cops immediately!”
Footage of the confrontation quickly gained widespread national attention, as it occurred on the very same day that Minnesota police officers pinned down George Floyd and restricted his breathing until he died. Ms. Cooper, who was quickly dubbed the “Central Park Karen” on Twitter, lost her job in the aftermath.
While Ms. Cooper was forced to surrender custody of her dog by the Abandoned Angels rescue shelter, the animal was later returned to its owner.
Initially, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. prosecuted Ms. Cooper for filing a false report, but Mr. Cooper declined to participate in the investigation. In interviews, he explained that he felt it was more important to direct attention to structural inequality, such as denying statehood to the “mostly Black and brown people of the District of Columbia,” rather than Ms. Cooper’s actions.
“That is what people should be focused on, not last year’s events in Central Park,” he told the New York Times last year.
On Tuesday, the charges against Ms. Cooper were formally dismissed in Manhattan Criminal Court following the completion of what the Times referred to as a “therapeutic educational program that included instruction about racial biases.” According to prosecutors, that program consisted of five therapy sessions that included instruction on the history and nature of racism.
“Given the issues at hand and Ms. Cooper’s lack of criminal background, we offered her, consistent with our position on many misdemeanor cases involving a first arrest, an alternative, restorative justice resolution,” said Assistant DA Joan Illuzzi in a statement.
Illuzzi added that the program is “designed not just to punish but to educate and promote community healing.”
Following the decision to drop charges in the case, Ms. Cooper’s attorney issued a statement thanking the New York District Attorney’s Office. But ominously, he added that individuals “rushed to the wrong conclusion based on inadequate investigation.” “They may yet face legal consequences,” he claimed.
On social media, Twitter users reacted to the news with dismay. Writer George M. Johnson compared Amy Cooper to Carolyn Bryant, whose false claims of sexual assault against 14-year-old Emmett Till resulted in his lynching, and Fannie Taylor, whose allegations of abuse led to mob violence against local Black residents in Rosewood, Florida.
“I am trying to believe in restorative justice but it sure is something that it is benefiting someone like Amy Cooper first,” added writer Roxanne Gay.
TV host and comedian W. Kamau Bell likewise expressed incredulity, asking how many therapy sessions Ms. Cooper would have been required to complete if cops “had shown up and killed” Mr. Cooper. In the months since the Central Park incident, Bell has spoken frequently about racism in American culture.
Outside of last year’s incident, Mr. Cooper is known for his pioneering role in the comics industry. A former Marvel editor, he helped introduce the first openly gay character in the Star Trek universe.
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