Amy Cooper Faces Charges After Calling Police on Black Bird Watcher

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

A white woman who called the police and falsely accused a Black man of threatening her life after he asked her to put her dog on a leash will face misdemeanor charges, the Manhattan district attorney announced Monday.

Amy Cooper, the woman in the Central Park encounter, which was recorded on video and touched off intense discussions about the history of Black people being falsely reported to the police, will be charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

“Today our office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for falsely reporting an incident in the third degree,” said Cyrus R. Vance, the Manhattan district attorney. “We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/nyregion/amy-cooper-false-report-charge.html

[AllaN01Bear]

1. glad someone is finaly being charged with fileling a false police report.

[totodeinhere]

32. Yes, filing a false report is very illegal. And it drains police resources from

urgent matters. I'm glad she was charged.

[BComplex]

2. Oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put that woman in jail.

A really strong message needs to be sent at this point in time. That kind of behavior is so friggin' abhorrent, it needs to stop forever.

[Loki Liesmith]

8. We have enough people in jail

community service is fine.

[BComplex]

14. This could have turned into the murder of an innocent person at the hands of police.

It didn't, I'm glad to say. But this woman is guilty of some very dangerous behavior against an innocent person.

Community service is ok for minor offenses. In my opinion, this isn't one of those.

[RVN VET71]

28. Yep. Sounds like Trump

I was shocked -- seriously -- at how quickly she played the "white woman endangered by black man" card. It was so natural to her, and that makes it all the more dangerous a reaction. There was no vehemence at all in the man -- who apparently is an extremely talented graphic artist who has done work for Marvel comics in addition to self publishing, among the many other work he has done within the community at large and with the Parks -- who remained very calm but insistent that she do what the law required her to do. And she thought: "Oh, a black man telling me what to do? I know how to take care of that problem. I'll call the police and tell them to please, please, please help me, my precious white life is being threatened by a black man!" which is the same as saying "Help me, please. I need you to kill this guy who, though I am not a racist, nevertheless just made me feel sad."

So, yeah, jail AND community service. Little darlings like Ms Cooper should get -- no, not a big sentence, maybe a week -- plus 6 months of community service working in a hospital, taking care of victims of the kind of violence she wished upon a man of peace who is her superior in every way. That and I hope she is forever banned from owning a dog or cat after her public abuse of her "rescue" pet (which was, I believe, taken from her after the video went public.)

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

18. IMHO, penalty should be appropriate to the crime. IMHO, JAIL TIME is appropriate for

this type of crime. FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

[onetexan]

20. Agree. Falsely reporting a crime against a person of color should be treated as a hate crime & made

a federal law.

[uponit7771]

22. THIS !!! The call was made in part because of skin color

[onetexan]

23. Oh yea, clearly this karen was showing her racist sentiments

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

29. Excellent point, hadnt thought of that I was thinking tho of

the concept off poetic justice and the phrase "karma is a btch.". If her intention was to get an innocent person arrested, booked and jailed - what more fitting penalty than for her to experience the inside of a jail herself and be treated like the criminal she is.

[BComplex]

31. I agree with this 100%. It was a hate crime, and it should

be made a federal law.

[LanternWaste]

33. Any data to support your final conclusion?

And specifically how that data is relevant to her actions?

I get it... the patterns of narrative are quite consistent. That's certainly not an insult, merely an observation.

[Sherman A1]

3. Good

I hope she gets a year of community service.

[trueblue2007]

10. give her 6 years of community service

[IronLionZion]

4. I hope the ACLU doesn't defend her on this

[brooklynite]

7. What Civil Rights issue applies that would involve the ACLU?

[IronLionZion]

12. They have fought hard to allow people to call police without consequence

and that "civil right" has been abused by racists.

Supposedly they initially supported that to help domestic abuse victims.

[onecaliberal]

9. That.

[matt819]

6. It's a start

Might I suggest one more trendy Ernst thing.

Termination and prosecution of cops who kill unarmed black people who pose no threat.

I know. Crazy, right?

[onecaliberal]

11. The crazy thing is that it needs to be said.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

30. Both/and - one does not preclude the other.

Prosecution of criminal false reporting does not preclude prosecution of criminal killer cops. Both things should happen. Who is saying otherwise?

[frazzled]

13. This is nitpicky

But the post heading is ambiguous.

For readers who may not be familiar with this story, it’s unclear whether the story is about a black birdwatcher (correct) or a blackbird watcher.

Don’t bother to call me the grammar police. I know I am. (Actually, I’m not. I don’t care about a lot of nonstandard grammar, but lack of clarity and ambiguity drive me nuts!)

[qazplm135]

16. well if we are being nitpicky

blackbird is all one word, so a black bird watcher is clearly distinct from a blackbird watcher.

[frazzled]

19. So is birdwatcher

bird·watch·er
/ˈbərdwäCHər/

noun
noun: birdwatcher; plural noun: birdwatchers; noun: bird-watcher; plural noun: bird-watchers
a person who observes birds in their natural surroundings as a hobby.

[qazplm135]

21. actually

it's hyphenated in the versions I googled. So not universal that it's all one-word. And there are numerous examples of it's use as two words. Whether "Correct" or not, it certainly seems like the "correct" version is not universally used at all...which is usually precedent for the "not correct" version becoming the "Correct" version over time.

Of course, we know from the story that he was a not exclusively looking at blackbirds, or even black birds, so interpreting it that way would seem somewhat ridiculous.

[frazzled]

24. In the header there is neither hyphen nor one word

So either way, it’s ambiguous to a reader. And that is enough said. I meant this only as an aside.

It would be better to simply correct the title and move on.

[qazplm135]

26. cept it's not

if everyone else gets it, and you think it's ambiguous...(maybe it's not ambiguous and you should just stop?)

[StClone]

27. It should drop birdwatcher and just say "birder"

[qazplm135]

34. were you confused

if not, it was successful in it's intent. Vast majority of folks were not confused, so I'd say it's fine as is.

[StClone]

35. Not confused. You are just outdated-we are birders not birdwathers.

[qazplm135]

36. Me?

I didn't use the word. Google and dictionaries give more than one alternative to describe bird watching.

Some people just need to be upset.

[qazplm135]

15. give her a month in jail

and 12 months of community service.

Seems fair to me. Some jail time serves as a deterrent to her and others, but the community service will have a more lasting, rehabilitative impact one hopes.

Having said that, she lost her anonymity, job, her dog for awhile, and now will forever be a criminal. I'd say karma punched her straight in the face.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

17. WHEN has this happened before - it must have, but dang if I can think of one other instance where

false report by white against black person was prosecuted...???

Thank goodness for video.... I honestly dont know how this type of profound injustice could have ever changed without it - I mean as a white person with a good heart (I like to think) I knew intellectually this was going on, but to see/hear/feel it happening is a whole nother thing....

[erronis]

25. If you put this poor white woman in jail she might be exposed to real life. Good.