Black Man in Park Video Asks People to Stop Threatening White Woman Who Called Police on Him

Black Man in Park Video Asks People to Stop Threatening White Woman Who Called Police on Him

05/27/2020

The black man who had the cops called on him after he asked a white woman to leash her dog in Central Park is pushing for an end to death threats against the woman in the viral video.

Christian Cooper told CNN that he recently learned that Amy Cooper, who is unrelated, has been receiving death threats following her call — and he wants them to stop.

“I am told there has been death threats and that is wholly inappropriate and abhorrent and should stop immediately,” he said. “I find it strange that people who were upset that … that she tried to bring death by cop down on my head, would then turn around and try to put death threats on her head. Where is the logic in that? Where does that make any kind of sense?”

The Monday morning encounter — in which Christian asked Amy to leash her dog in the Ramble section of Central Park, then allegedly tried to bait the dog away from plants using treats — drew outrage after it was shared to social media.

In the clip, Amy called police and told them an “African-American man” was “recording me and threatening myself and my dog,” and asked for the cops to respond to the scene “immediately.”


Amy — who was fired from her job in the aftermath — has since apologized multiple times for the incident, calling it “unacceptable” to WNBC.

“I’m not a racist,” she told CNN. “I did not mean to harm that man in any way. [My] entire life is being destroyed right now.”

Christian told CNN Tuesday night that it’s not up to him to determine whether Amy is a racist, but that her actions were “definitely” racist.

“I think her apology is sincere. I’m not sure that in that apology she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist,” he said. “And the fact that that was her recourse at that moment — granted, it was a stressful situation, a sudden situation — you know, maybe a moment of spectacularly poor judgment. But she went there and had this racist act that she did.”

He also said that the only answer to the question of whether Amy is a racist is how she conducts herself moving forward, and “how she chooses to reflect on this situation and examine it.”

In addition to death threats, Amy also received a call from activists to be banned from Central Park, though a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that will not happen.

Michael Fischer, president of the Central Park Civic Association, told the New York Post that Amy’s behavior was “a disgusting display of intolerance” that should “never, ever be accepted in the City’s public domain like Central Park.”

“The Central Park Civic Association condemns this behavior and is calling on Mayor de Blasio to impose a lifetime ban on this lady for her deliberate, racial misleading of law enforcement and violating behavioral guidelines set so that all can enjoy our city’s most famous park,” Fischer said, adding that she should only be allowed back after getting “rehabilitation.”

Despite the call, a spokesperson for City Hall said that that would not be the case.

“While this woman’s behavior was despicable and goes against everything this administration stands for, there is unfortunately no legal way to ban her from Central Park,” mayoral spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie tells PEOPLE.

NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker said Tuesday that police — who arrived on the Central Park scene to find both parties gone — will not pursue charges against Amy.

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