NEW YORK _ Amy Cooper, the white woman who called police on a Black birdwatcher for asking her to put a leash on her dog in an infamous viral video, faces criminal charges for calling in the fake threat that's already cost the Manhattan woman her job and reputation.
"Today our Office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree. Our office will provide the public with additional information as the case proceeds," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement.
"At this time I would like to encourage anyone who has been the target of false reporting to contact our Office. We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable."
In the video that's since been viewed more than 100 million times, Amy Cooper approaches Christian Cooper, an avid bird watcher, in The Ramble in Central Park and demands he stop filming her or she'll call the police.
"I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life," she says while dialing 911 and holding her cocker spaniel halfway off the ground by his collar as he thrashes around, trying to break free.
The call was widely viewed as yet another example of a privileged white person making a false accusation against a Black man using an emergency call that could have put his safety in jeopardy.
