NYPD is weighing whether to charge 'Central Park Karen' for making a false call to police after she claimed an African American man who asked her to leash her dog was 'threatening her life'

The NYPD is weighing whether to bring charges against the white investment banker who called police on a black man after he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park. 

Video of Amy Cooper dialing 911 to report that an 'African-American man' was 'threatening her life' went viral after it was shared to the internet on Monday. 

And while Cooper was swiftly terminated from her $170K-a-year job at Franklin Templeton, she may now be facing legal ramifications over her actions. 

'Our detectives are working hand in hand right now with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Obviously, we don't want to make an arrest if the DA isn't sure if they can prosecute that,' NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan told WPIX on Friday. 

The NYPD is weighing whether to bring charges against Amy Cooper (left) who called police on Christian Cooper (right) when he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park

'If it's a false call and we can prove it, there's going to be an arrest… If someone intentionally makes a false call and we can prove it, they will be arrested right away. There is no place for that in this city'.

In New York, making a false police report is a criminal offence that can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. It is punishable by up to a year in prison. 

Birdwatcher Christian Cooper says he simply asked Amy Cooper (no relation) to leash her dog before she called the cops and hysterically accused him of threatening her life. 

'We're taking a look at exactly what the calls were, speaking to Christian, speaking to Amy, speaking to everyone involved, looking through all the videos to see if it sustains a charge,' Officer Monahan stated. 

'If it’s a false call and we can prove it, there’s going to be an arrest… If someone intentionally makes a false call and we can prove it, they will be arrested right away. There is no place for that in this city'. 

Meanwhile, New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and Senator Brian Benjamin are now seeking to  introduce legislation to criminalize similar false reporting incidents as  'hate crimes.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan has revealed that are cops are considering charging Amy Cooper over Monday's incident

'In the past year, we have seen many instances throughout both New York State and the country of people calling 911 on black people who are going about their everyday lives, only to be interrupted by someone calling the police for reasons that range from caution, to suspicious inkling to all out hated,' Ortiz wrote in the bill's justification Tuesday.  

Benjamin, meanwhile, called the incident 'frightening' and voiced his shock at such an occurrence happening just blocks away from where 'many of my constituents live.

'This woman was so willing to fabricate a story despite being filmed,' he said, as reported by PIX11. 'I worry that if she had not been filmed, this woman may have been given the benefit of the doubt, and that this man could have faced serious, perhaps life-threatening consequences if the police had arrived.'  

The New York City Commission on Human Rights has announced that it's launching its own investigation into Monday's clash between Cooper and Cooper in the park. 

'At a time when the devastating impacts of racism in black communities have been made so painfully clear—from racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, to harassment of essential workers on the frontlines—it is appalling to see these types of ugly threats directed at one New Yorker by another,' Sapna Raj, deputy commissioner of the Law Enforcement Bureau at the Commission on Human Rights, told the NY Post.

'Efforts to intimidate black people by threatening to call law enforcement draw on a long, violent and painful history, and they are unacceptable. We encourage Ms. Cooper to cooperate with the Commission and meaningfully engage in a process to address the harm that she has caused, Raj added. 

While the body cannot bring about criminal charges, it does have the authority to implement hefty fines for any perceived violations of human rights law, and can award compensatory damages to victims, including emotional distress damages.

+5

+5

Video of Amy Cooper dialing 911 to report that an 'African-American man' was 'threatening her life' went viral after it was shared to the internet on Monday 

+5

Christian Cooper had been bird watching in an area of the park known as The Ramble over the Memorial Day weekend when he saw Amy Cooper walking her unleashed dog that was 'tearing through the plantings'

Amy Cooper has apologized to Christian Cooper over the incident, saying she 'was the one who was acting inappropriately'. 

'I hope that a few mortifying seconds in a lifetime of 40 years will not define me in his eyes,' she stated earlier this week. 

On Thursday, Christian told the panel of The View that he has accepted Amy's apology, and has urged viewers to look at the bigger picture of racism that the encounter displayed.

'I do accept her apology,' Christian said. '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.' 

Christian said the reaction isn't necessarily about Cooper, or her snap-second judgement, but about the 'underlying current of racism and racial perceptions that's been going on for centuries and that permeates this city and this country that she tapped into.'

'That's what we really have to address; not the specifics of her, but why are we still plagued with that and how do we fix it.'

+5

On Thursday, Christian told the panel of The View that he has accepted Amy's apology, and has urged viewers to look at the bigger picture of racism that the encounter displayed 

Christian, a board member of the NYC Audubon Society, also doubled down on his previous urges asking the public to stop making death threats against Cooper.

'If you think that what she did was wrong, that she was trying to bring death by cop down on my head, then there is absolutely no way you can justify then turning around and putting a death threat on her head,' he said.

Cooper explained that he's also 'uncomfortable' with judging Cooper solely on a 'few seconds…over very poor judgement.'

'[There's] no excusing that it was a racist act because it was a racist act,' he told the show. 'But [does] that define her entire life? Only she can tell us if that defines her entire life by what she does going forward.' 

+5

Amy Cooper is pictured with her adopted dog, Henry. The animal has now been given back to the shelter