NEW YORK (Reuters) – A white woman who called police about a black bird watcher over a dispute over his dog in New York’s Central Park is to be prosecuted, officials said on Monday.
Amy Cooper is facing lawsuits for falsely reporting an incident, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said in a statement.
The misdemeanor charge can result in a prison sentence of up to one year. Cooper was ordered to appear for arraignment Oct. 14.
A video of the May 25 altercation sparked anger over African Americans falsely reporting to cops and made global headlines.
It was posted the same day an unarmed black man, George Floyd, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, sparking weeks of angry protests.
Christian Cooper filmed his namesake as she approached him after he asked her to leash her dog in a wooded area of ​​the park popular with birdwatchers.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she tells Cooper, after dialing 911 and struggling to control her dog.
“There is an African American man, I am in Central Park. He records me and threatens me and threatens my dog,” she then told the operator.
The exchange sparked outrage on social media, with users referring to the woman as “Karen”, a popular term online to describe an empowered white woman.
She was accused of putting Cooper’s life in danger by attempting to manipulate a police system routinely accused of brutality against members of the black community.
Cooper was promptly fired from her job at Franklin Templeton, with the investment management firm saying it did not tolerate “racism of any kind”.
The video, posted on Twitter, has been viewed nearly 45 million times.