Manhattan prosecutors have dropped their charges against Amy Cooper, a white woman who earned herself the nickname Central Park Karen after she called 911 on an innocent black birdwatcher and claimed he was threatening her life, saying she ‘learned a lot in therapy’ and has no criminal background.
Cooper was charged with one count of falsifying an incident report last year after calling the cops on Christian Cooper, a birdwatcher who had told her to put her dog on a leash.
She called the cops, falsely claiming he was threatening her life.
She was fired from her job at an investment firm in Manhattan and became one of the faces of a series of incidents in which white women across America were seen to be abusing their privileges to report black or minority people for crimes they didn’t commit.
The charge she faced is a Class A misdemeanor which carries a maximum prison sentence of 1 year and fines of up to $1,000.
But prosecutors on Tuesday told a court hearing they’d decided to drop the charges because she completed a ‘restorative’ alternative which included five therapy sessions where she claimed she’d ‘learned a lot’.
Amy Cooper was facing a maximum of one year in prison for falsely claiming Christian Cooper had threatened her life. Now, she must just complete a restorative justice program
ADA Iluzzi outlined that the case could have resulted in the cops tracking Christian down and arresting him had the pair not stayed at the park to speak to the police when they arrived.
‘The simple principle is that one cannot use the police to threaten another and in this case, in a racially offensive and charged manner,’ Illuzzi said.
Cooper with her dog. She was fired from her investment banker job and was deemed racist by public figures including NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio
However she said: ‘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; designed not just to punish but to educate and promote community healing.’
She said Cooper completed a ‘comprehensive, respectful program’ at the Critical Therapy Center where she focused on ‘the ways in which Ms. Cooper could appreciate that racial identities shape our lives but we cannot use them to harm ourselves or others.’
‘Having completed 5 sessions, Ms. Cooper’s therapist reported that it was a moving experience and that Ms. Cooper learned a lot in their sessions together. The compliance report is attached, we are filing it with the court.
‘Having completed the restorative justice program to our satisfaction, we now move to dismiss,’ she said.
Christian Cooper has not yet responded but critics are already calling it the ‘whitest sentence ever’.
Cooper’s attorney threatened to sue people who ‘rushed to the wrong conclusion’ after the case was dropped
Christian Cooper hasn’t yet responded to the charges being dropped. Last year, he said he accepted her apology
Last year, after the incident went viral thanks to a video he took of it and posted on social media, he accepted her apology, saying: ‘I do accept her apology. I think it’s a first step. I think she’s gotta do some reflection on what happened because up until the moment when she made that statement.
‘It was just a conflict between a birder and a dog walker, and then she took it to a very dark place.
‘I think she’s gotta sort of examine why and how that happened.’
Cooper’s lawyer said in a statement on Tuesday: ‘After a thorough & honest inquiry, the New York DA’s office dismissed all charges today against #AmyCooper.
‘We thank them for their integrity & concur w/ the outcome.’
He also threatened legal action against people who rushed to the wrong conclusion’.
Cooper worked at Franklin Templeton and was earning upwards of $170,000-a-year.
After the incident went viral last year, the company fired her, saying: ‘Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately.’
Mayor Bill de Blasio was among those who condemned the incident. He called her racist.