In this case, TECHNOLOGY saved the day!
Over the weekend, a video went viral of a black man’s encounter in Central Park in New York with a white woman. The black man, Christian Cooper, caught the entire situation on camera, and it proves that the white woman in the video, Amy Cooper, (no relation) lied when calling the police.
Christan was in the park watching birds and noticed that Amy didn’t have a leash on her dog. In the footage, you can see that he simply asked her to leash her dog (in the designate area they were in, The Ramble, dogs MUST be on leashes) and when she didn’t, he gave the pup a dog treat. You can also hear Amy ask Christian to stop recording her but he refused, he wasn’t breaking any laws and wasn’t near her.
Amy then calls 9-1-1, and repeatedly says “there’s an African American man threatening my life.” Christian continues to record, Amy tells him to stop, he doesn’t, then she yanks her small dog by the collar, moves away, and then eventually puts the dog on a leash.
No complaint or arrest was made and Christan told NBC, “We live in an age of Ahmaud Arbery where black men are gunned down because of assumptions people make about black men, black people, and I’m just not going to participate in that.” Amy claims she “overreacted,” and says she felt “threatened” because Christian was screaming. On the news Amy said,
“I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family,” she said in a phone call. “It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologize to everyone who’s seen that video, everyone that’s been offended…everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.” “When I think about the police, I’m such a blessed person. I’ve come to realize especially today that I think of [the police] as a protection agency, and unfortunately, this has caused me to realize that there are so many people in this country that don’t have that luxury.”
As a result of the unnecessary incident, Amy was placed on administrative leave by her employer Franklin Templeton, an investment management company. She also “voluntarily surrendered” her adopted dog in the video and the dog is in “good health.”
In response to an incident involving an employee on May 25th, Franklin Templeton issued the following statement. pic.twitter.com/8f2lMwK0r5
— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) May 26, 2020
Take a look at the situation straight from Christian’s phone:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158742137255229&id=671885228