Woman Who Called Cops On Black Birder May Be Arrested: NYPD Chief

CENTRAL PARK, NY — A woman who called police on a black birdwatcher in Central Park may be arrested, high-ranking NYPD officials said Friday.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said in a Friday morning interview with PIX11 that police and prosecutors are investigating Amy Cooper for filing a false police report after Christian Cooper asked her to leash her dog in the Central Park ramble this week. Cooper has already lost her dog and high-powered investment job since video of the confrontation went viral after being posted to social media.

"If it’s a false call and we could prove it, there’s going to be an arrest," Monahan said during the PIX11 interview. "There's no place for that in our city."

A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. told Patch: "Our office is thoroughly reviewing this matter."

When officers arrived at the Ramble on Monday both Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper had already left the area.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that he was "appalled" after watching the viral video and suggested that the city's law enforcement agencies should investigate whether Cooper's actions should be considered a crime.

"Did she commit an offense by falsely accusing someone? That is the thing to me we need to better ascertain. It was a disgusting incident," the mayor said.

Harlem State Senator Brian Benjamin is currently pushing a bill to alter the state's penal code to add falsely reporting a crime to a list of offenses that qualify as hate crimes. Former Brooklyn State Sen. Jesse Hamilton first proposed the legislation in 2018 after he was the victim of a false report.

In a Facebook post, Christian Cooper wrote that he approached Amy Cooper because her dog was "tearing through the plantings" in the ramble. When Cooper declined to leash her dog, Christian Cooper said "if you're going to do what you want, I'm going to do what I want, but you're not going to like it," and began to offer dog treats to Cooper's cocker spaniel.

Christian Cooper told CNN that he keeps dog treats on him because offering them to unleashed dogs usually get their owners to restrain them on the leash. The birder told CNN that he was "actually pretty calm," during his entire interaction with the dog owner.

Video of the ensuing altercation between Christian Cooper and Amy Cooper shows that the bird watcher remained that calm even as the woman called the police on him. At the beginning of the video, Christian Cooper tells Amy not to approach him and says "please call the cops" and "tell them whatever you like" after an initial threat to do so.

"I'm in the Ramble and there's a man — African-American — he has a bicycle helmet. He's recording me and threatening me and my dog," Amy Cooper says after calling the police.