Amy Cooper, the White woman made famous for threatening then calling and lying to the police about a Black birdwatcher is suing her former employer. Cooper became angry after she was asked to leash her dog in an area of Central Park that requires all pets be on leashes.
In her lawsuit, Cooper cited racial and gender discrimination.
Amy Cooper, who called the cops on a black man in Central Park, is suing her former employer for discrimination. She claims she had reason to "reasonably fear" for her safety and she was "\u201cpalpably distraught and fearful of her safety."https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/woman-who-called-cops-on-black-bird-watcher-sues-over-her-firing\u00a0\u2026— Celeste Headlee (@Celeste Headlee) 1622068910
Cooper filed a complaint on Tuesday night against Franklin Templeton, the investment company where she worked as an insurance portfolio manager.
A white woman who falsely told police a Black man was \u201cthreatening my life\u201d after he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park is suing her ex-company for firing her.\n\nAmy Cooper, whose charges were dropped after she did counseling, claims her firing caused \u201cemotional distress.\u201dpic.twitter.com/N2RM9u7Lyr— AJ+ (@AJ+) 1622057487
Franklin Templeton, which is part of Franklin Resources Inc, fired her after she faced backlash from the viral video taken on May 25, 2020, of her encounter with birdwatcher Christian Cooper—who is of no relation.
She said the company's actions substantially ruined her career and caused her emotional distress.
Oh FFS. She is not the victim here.— \ud83c\udf0a sassy-redhead-says-what? \ud83d\udc1e\ud83e\udd89\ud83e\udd8b (@\ud83c\udf0a sassy-redhead-says-what? \ud83d\udc1e\ud83e\udd89\ud83e\udd8b) 1622058150
The complaint filed in Manhattan federal court said:
"Plaintiff's personal and professional life has been destroyed by the knowingly false statements defendants made."
I can't wait to see the legal fees she has to pay after she's laughed out of court.pic.twitter.com/bjeFnhxq8I— Rani Yachts\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Rani Yachts\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1622058286
She\u2019ll lose. It\u2019s her own fault. This was easily avoided.— Richie Newport (@Richie Newport) 1622058683
According to Yahoo News, Amy Cooper is "seeking unspecified damages for race and gender discrimination, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence."
Franklin Templeton plans to defend against her "baseless" claims, including against Chief Executive Jenny Johnson.
The company's statement read:
"We believe the circumstances of the situation speak for themselves and that the company responded appropriately."
I can't wait until she has to pay attorney's fees and work at a Subway, if they'll even hire her.— Brian Kolstad \ud83d\ude37 (@Brian Kolstad \ud83d\ude37) 1622058389
In the video taken by Christian, Amy Cooper got out her phone and told him, "I'm going to tell [the police] an African American man is threatening my life," when he was clearly posing no threat to her.
According to a 911 report, by the time New York City police officers responded, neither Christian Cooper nor Amy Cooper was present at the scene of the "active assault" Amy Cooper reported.
A prosecutor later disclosed Amy Cooper had made a second 911 call that was previously unreported, claiming a Black man had "tried to assault her in the Ramble area of the park."
Amy later issued a public apology for her reaction but justified her reason for calling the cops on Christian because she "feared for her life." She also insisted she was not a "racist" person despite citing Christian Cooper's race in her threats to him.
"I think I was just scared," she told CNN.
See - her apology meant nothing . This , right here , is why nobody trusts us white women— Patricia Ramos-Long @\u00aeKHive (@Patricia Ramos-Long @\u00aeKHive) 1622060430
The public was not forgiving.
After the ensuing backlash to her defensive response and potentially putting Christian Cooper's life at risk by weaponizing the police against a person of color, Franklin Templeton put Amy on suspension pending an investigation.
She was later terminated and the company said they did not condone racism.
Manhattan prosecutors charged her with filing a false police report last July.
The misdemeanor charge was dropped last February after she completed therapy that included instruction on not using racial bias.
@GavinNewsom/X
