Written by: Sarah Johnson | June 10, 2020

By: Sarah Johnson

In the wake of the viral video of a white woman calling the cops on a black man in Central Park, Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix W. Ortiz re-introduced a bill to add falsely reporting an incident to the police to the list of eligible offenses for a hate crime. This incident occurred on the same day as the killing of George Floyd, but did not end in death.

What Led Up to this Bill?

Christian Cooper, an avid bird-watcher, was in Central Park in an area known as the Ramble on Memorial Day. The Ramble is a 36-acre woodland retreat featuring meandering pathways, coves, and forest gardens. Over 230 bird species have been spotted here, making it a favorite location for birders in the city. Dogs are required to be on a leash within the Ramble to protect vegetation and to not disturb wildlife. On May 25, 2020, Christian, a black man, asked a white woman in the Ramble, Amy Cooper but of no relation, to leash her dog who was was roaming free. After the conversation became tense, Christian began recording the interaction.

In the video put on Facebook by Christian and Twitter by Christian’s sister, the woman can be seen pulling her dog by the collar and telling Christian to stop recording. As she approaches, Christian asks her to not come close to him. After she asks him to stop recording her, she begins to threaten to call the police and tells him she will say she is being threatened by an African American, apparently as a threat. After this statement the woman proceeds to call the police and tell them an African American man with a bicycle helmet was recording her and “threatening myself and my dog”. She continues on to say he was “threatening her life” and tells authorities “Please send the cops immediately!” These claims were not reflective of the situation; no threats had been made. During the call, Amy leashed her dog, after which Christian said thank you, stopped recording, and left the area.

Amy Cooper later issued a statement and apology for the incident. She was terminated from her job and had to surrender her dog (which appears to be choking throughout parts of the video) to a shelter. Her dog has since been returned.

What would the Bill Do?

This bill, NY A03566, would make it a hate crime to call the police on someone and make a false accusation against them based on their race, gender, or religion. It would do this by qualifying false reporting in the third, second and first degrees as a “specified offense,” meaning that a charge could carry an added hate crime distinction. The bill also calls for additional penalties for hate crime “enhancements” on top of sentences for other crimes, such as harassment or assault, if the victim is targeted because of their race, religion, or other protected characteristic.

The summary purpose of the bill states: This bill is meant to further punish the falsely reporting of a crime if the motivation for reporting such crime is motivated by a perception or belief about their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation.

The summary justification of the bill states: In the past year, we have seen many instances throughout both New York State and the country of people calling 911 on black people who are going about their everyday lives, only to be interrupted by someone calling the police for reasons that range from caution, to suspicious inkling to all out hatred.

In a statement, Ortiz said,

How many more incidents like the one we witnessed this past weekend where someone calls the police on a black man to falsely claim he was committing a crime and threatening them before we take action. These incidents are not only racist and shameful but serious and dangerous to all involved. Too often, these incidents end in tragedy and we must take action to stop them for happening. When police are called believing they are responding to a violent attack or the alleged perpetrator is armed, there is a strong possibility that someone is going to be injured or killed. When the incident is based on hate and racist beliefs, it makes the incident even more horrific. The time has come to send a message that these incidents will be considered hate crimes and they will be punished like all other hate crimes.

According the the NY Post, Governor Cuomo “wants state lawmakers to pass ‘Amy Cooper’ 911 false accusation bill.” He said last week, “We’ve seen 911 calls which are race-based, false calls. A false 911 call based on race should be classified as a hate crime in the state of New York.” On June 5th, Cuomo released the “Say Their Name” Reform Agenda:

A similar bill, S9149, was proposed in 2018 by former State Senator Jesse Hamilton of Brooklyn. Hamilton introduced S9149 after he had a self-described Trump supporter call the police to complain about his stance on Trump’s immigration policies while he was campaigning for reelection. Police reportedly went to the scene to explain to the woman that the state senator had not broken any laws. Hamilton had this to say, “That’s gonna be a hate crime. This pattern of calling the police on black people going about their business and participating in the life of our country has to stop.”

Additionally, New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, launched an investigation into the incident in the Ramble. This commission polices discrimination and harassment for all housing, employment, and public accommodations in New York City. Sapna V. Raj, Deputy Commissioner of the Law Enforcement Bureau at the NYC Commission on Human Rights, had this to say upon the announcement of the investigation,

At a time when the devastating impacts of racism in Black communities have been made so painfully clear—from racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, to harassment of essential workers on the frontlines—it is appalling to see these types of ugly threats directed at one New Yorker by another. Efforts to intimidate Black people by threatening to call law enforcement draw on a long, violent and painful history, and they are unacceptable. We encourage Ms. Cooper to cooperate with the Commission and meaningfully engage in a process to address the harm that she has caused.

We are seeing more and more legislation being proposed at the state and federal levels in the weeks since this incident and the killing of George Floyd took place. With two weeks of continuous protesting throughout the nation and world, legislators have are starting to more urgently and creatively address systemic racism in our society.

 

Cover Photo by Michael Jin on Unsplash


 

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