New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is supporting a bill that if it had already been enacted would have deemed the actions of a white New Yorker who tried to weaponize police against a Black bird-watcher a hate crime. "A false 911 call based on race should be classified as a hate crime in the state of New York," Cuomo said Friday during his daily briefing.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz renewed a legislative effort he initially introduced in 2018 after viral video showed Amy Cooper calling police on Christian Cooper when he asked her to follow Central Park rules and put her dog on a leash on May 25. “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,” Ortiz said in a news release. “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 from happening. ”
In video of Amy Cooper’s, she can be seen calling the police while saying: “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.” When she reached a dispatcher, she said repeatedly: “He’s African-American.”
The bird-watcher wasn’t injured, and no complaint was filed with police. Amy Cooper, who picked up the nickname “Central Park Karen” on social media, was instead fired from her job leading insurance portfolio management at the investment firm Franklin Templeton.
Ortiz, however, said the next person of color may not have the same fate. “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,” he said.
The proposed legislation would add “falsely reporting an incident because of race, ethnicity, religion, race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation penalties as Hate Crimes in New York State.”
“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, ” Ortiz said in the press release.
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