Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a black man whom she claimed was “threatening” her life as they argued about her dog in a viral video, says she wants to “publicly apologize to everyone” involved.
The man, Christian Cooper (no relation), recorded and posted a video on Facebook in which she told him she was calling the police “to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life” after he asked her to leash her dog in the Ramble, an area of Central Park in New York City where he was birdwatching, as park rules mandate.
“I’m not a racist,” Amy Cooper said in an interview with CNN published on Tuesday. “I did not mean to harm that man in any way.”
“I think I was just scared,” she told CNN. “When you’re alone in the Ramble, you don’t know what’s happening.”
“It’s not excusable, it’s not defensible,” she added.
Cooper’s LinkedIn profile lists her as “Head of Insurance Investment Solutions at Franklin Templeton.” The company put out a statement late Monday night saying that Cooper had been put on administrative leave.
“We take these matters very seriously, and we do not condone racism of any kind,” the firm said.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Franklin Templeton announced that Amy Cooper had been fired.
Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.
— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) May 26, 2020
Amy Cooper told CNN that her “entire life is being destroyed right now” after the video went viral on social media.
“I’m taking a picture and calling the cops,” she tells Christian Cooper in the video after he tells her three times to stay away from him. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.”
“Please tell them whatever you like,” he replied.
She then takes out her phone and calls the police.
“There is an African-American man. I’m in Central Park,” Amy Cooper tells the operator as her dog squirms in its leash and yelps. “He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog.”
Her voice grows agitated as she speaks on the phone, saying again “I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble. Please send the cops immediately!”
Christian Cooper told CNN he had recorded the exchange “because I thought it was important to document things.”
“Unfortunately we live in an era with things like Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are seen as targets,” he said. “This woman thought she could exploit that to her advantage, and I wasn’t having it.”
The New York City Police Department told CNN that neither Amy nor Christian Cooper were on location by the time deputies had arrived, and that no arrests were made.
Watch the video below:
Central Park this morning: This woman's dog is tearing through the plantings in the Ramble.ME: Ma'am, dogs in the…
Posted by Christian Cooper on Monday, May 25, 2020
How often have bogus 911 calls like this been made in the past? I shudder to think…
Glad Justice Roberts told us that we’ve moved past this sort of thing.
Claiming her life is being destroyed seems to be of a piece with her other exaggerations. Poor thing.
I had words with a woman whose dogs were off leash in a park last week, while I was walking my leashed dog. They were very sweet, but I did not want their attention. I snapped, and she returned fire. It got quite heated.
Anyway, I apologized when I saw her the next day. I should have just left and not have gotten into her business. Being right is not enough reason to cause an uproar these days.
It’s a stressful time. And I think I, for one, am closer to edges than I realize.
I’d be willing to bet reasonably good money that the only reason this crazy, racist White woman has created an apology through CNN is because she works for a well known financial services group. As we go further into their year and international companies such as this look as the bottom line of their balance sheets, the title of “Crazy, racist White woman who ends up embarrassing us by default” won’t be a position they’ll be keeping on.
Can’t tell if she’s racist, or not, but she is very afraid…a common enough thing in America. We ought to note that her language was not offensive, if that means anything. The gentleman involved here handled it about as well as I can imagine considering the circumstances.