A white woman who called police alleging that a Black man was threatening her life in New York’s Central Park after he asked her to put her dog on a leash has been fired from her job.
Investment management company Franklin Templeton said Tuesday that it fired Amy Cooper following an internal review after video of the incident was posted online.
“Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately,” Franklin Templeton said in a statement. “We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.”
Christian Cooper, no relation to Amy Cooper, said he noticed the dog was unleashed while he was birdwatching in the Ramble section of the park. He told NBC News that he approached to ask the woman walking the dog to put it back on a leash, which is the park’s policy.
“You know, dogs off the leash in the Ramble is not anything comparable to the civil rights movement,” he said. “But one of the things I got from growing up that way is that when people trample on your rights, you don’t take that lying down. You push back. And that’s what I do.”
Christian Cooper said he began recording when the woman refused to leash her dog, and he said that was when she said she would call the police. He told NBC News that he didn’t want to “dehumanize” himself by giving in to what he considered an attempt at “racial intimidation.”
Video of the incident has been viewed more than 41 million times since it was posted on Twitter by his sister on Monday.
