Case Against Amy Cooper Lacks Key Element: Victim’s Cooperation

“If the police believed she was really being attacked, they could have come in with guns drawn and she would have been the only witness in this — outside of that video that may or many not have surfaced,” said Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, a professor of constitutional law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “This isn’t just about Christian Cooper. The community has been harmed by the actions of Amy Cooper and, in order to rectify this, then the people of New York need to have their day in court, even if Christian Cooper is a reluctant witness.”

Ms. Browne-Marshall said the case was only the latest example in a long history of incidents in which white people have summoned law enforcement and falsely accused a Black person of a crime. Others have compared the case to the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till.

The video of the incident captured on Mr. Cooper’s phone shows Ms. Cooper with a tight grip on her dog’s collar. She says to a 911 operator in a high, frantic voice: “I’m in the Ramble, there is a man, African-American. He has a bicycle helmet and he is recording me and threatening me and my dog.”

Before ending the call, she adds, “I am being threatened by a man in the Ramble, please send the cops immediately!”

Mr. Cooper said in a Facebook post that after the woman refused to leash her dog, he had decided to offer the dog treats in an effort to convince Ms. Cooper to abide by the leash law.

“Look, 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,” he told her, before he pulled out the treats and began filming, according to his post.

Alvin Bragg, a former federal prosecutor and a New York University law professor, said the video provides sufficient evidence for the prosecution, and that her focus on his race suggests she intended to file a false report, a necessary element to prove a crime.