An African American man caught the moment on camera, when a Caucasian woman put a call through to 911 and pretended to be in distress while lying that he (the African American man) is threatening her life.
The said lady was at the famous Ramble in New York’s Central Park when she took her dog off the leash — an act which is clearly against the rules of the park so as to protect the birds from dogs.
An African American man who’s “an avid birder” and had seen her dog off the lease, politely asked her to put it back on the leash but she refused.
When the man started filming her, she confronted him and asked him to stop, he then told her he will stop when she complies and puts her dog on the leash.
Rather than obey the park rules, the lady told him that she will call the cops and tell them peculiarly that an “African American man” is threatening her.
She said,
“I’m going to tell them that there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
She then took her phone, dialed 911, and told the cops exactly that. But she didn’t stop there as she went on to pretend like she was in distress and begged them to send the cops immediately. While talking with the police, she was strangling her dog, making the animal scream as though they were under attack.
She took her acting further by crying and clamouring for help as though her life were in danger.
The video was shared online by Melody Cooper, a sister to the African American man who wrote,
“Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash.”
https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920
Melody Cooper later added that her brother is fine and didn’t get in trouble with the cops.
Twitter users have since reacted to the video in outrage and called for the woman, who was later identified as Amy Cooper, to be arrested for making an unnecessary 911 call.
Others went on to point out how she intentionally used the man’s race as a weapon against him — they said that by emphasizing his race, she knew what she was doing and hoped that the colour of his skin will make the cops biased against him.
Some reactions below,
