A woman labeled as “Central Park Karen” in 2020 has broken her silence stating that she felt “threatened” by the man who recorded her in a video that went viral.
Amy Cooper, who graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2003, was interviewed on Bari Weiss’s Honestly podcast in an episode titled The Real Story of “The Central Park Karen.”
In an episode of the podcast, Amy recalled her scandalous encounter with Christian Cooper, a Black bird-watcher whom she accused of threatening her and her dog while they were out for a walk in Central Park, New York City.
The confrontation happened on May 25, 2020, in the park’s Ramble section where dogs are required to be on leashes. Christian, who is not related to Amy, began recording the conversation after he apparently told the woman to put her dog on a leash.
Amy is seen approaching the man as she asks him to stop filming her. Christian tells Amy, “please don’t come close to me,” urging her to take out her phone to call the police.
Christian filmed as Amy called the police, telling them: “I’m in the Ramble and there is a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet. He is recording me and threatening me and my dog.”
Amy discussed on the podcast how she felt threatened by Christian, stating that he had had disagreements with other dog owners in the park, how the media simplified the story and how she was doxed, received death threats, and lost her job.
She also talked about how the unpleasant incident negatively affected her mental health, leaving her with thoughts of suicide.
“Get out of here. You shouldn’t be here,” Christian told Amy, who was with her dog, Henry.
After Christian told Amy to put a leash on the dog, she declined, saying that he needed his exercise. She claims she was about to leash the dog when Christian made his threat.
“If you’re going to do what you want to do, then I’m going to do what I want to do, but you’re not going to like it,” Christian allegedly told her.
Amy claims she felt threatened by Christian and felt she had to call the authorities after those statements.
“I don’t know that as a woman alone in a park that I had another option, I’m trying to figure out, you know, what does that mean?” Amy said. “Is that a physical attack on me? Is that to my dog? Like, what is he about to do?”
“Before I could even figure out how to process this, he pulls out dog treats (from his fanny pack) and I’m like “What the heck is this guy doing?”
“I look up and he’s holding these dog treats in one hand and a bike helmet in his other hand and I’m thinking, “Oh my god, is this guy going to lure my dog over and try to hit him with his bike helmet? And if I end up over there am I going to get hit by this bike helmet?” she continued.
The video recording doesn’t show Christian making the statement but does show Amy saying Christian was “threatening” her and her dog.
Amy can be seen repeatedly saying he’s “an African American man” and asks for cops to be sent “immediately.”
“I’d explored all my options,” Amy told the podcast. “I tried to leave. I tried to look for anyone who’s around. There was no noise, no sound. And it was, you know, it was my last attempt to sort of hope that he would step down and leave me alone.”
The video came out at a time when there are several instances of white women in the US reporting black individuals for unsupported crimes.
Amy was charged with one count of falsifying an incident report, a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison, and a $1,000 fine, in May 2020 after calling the cops on Christian.
In February, Manhattan prosecutors dropped their charges against Amy, claiming she learned her lesson in therapy. Christian, declined to participate in prosecution efforts when Amy Cooper was charged with making a false police report.
Amy was fired from her job at an investment firm Franklin Templeton in Manhattan, which claimed it performed an investigation after the viral video came out and determined she was racist.
Amy sued her former employer, where she worked from June 2015 to May 2020 and was earning upwards of $170,000 a year, saying it fired her without doing a reasonable investigation and falsely described her as racist.
She seeks unspecified damages for race and gender discrimination, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
Franklin Templeton said in a May 2020 tweet: “Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately.” The tweet was liked 277,000 times.
Amy’s lawsuit, however, claims there was never a “legitimate” investigation and the company’s tweet gave the “Karen” story “legitimacy” which “caused her such severe emotional distress that she was suicidal.”
Her lawsuit cites another dog walker who says he and two others have had unpleasant encounters with Christian.
The episode concludes with Amy Cooper saying she would be willing to talk to Christian Cooper. Given the opportunity, she said she would open the conversation with, “you scared me.”
The podcast hosts said Amy did not disclose her current location and Christian has yet to publicly respond to Amy’s comments.
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