Bird Watcher Christian Cooper Won’t Help DA Prosecute Amy Cooper: ‘She’s Already Paid a Steep Price’

Christian Cooper, the birdwatcher who was the target of Amy Cooper‘s phone call to police claiming he was threatening her and her dog, has done an unusual thing in this era of social media shaming and cancellation culture: he expressed support for showing mercy.

The tale of the two Coopers — a common last name, and no known relation to each other — went viral in May, when Christian — a Black male and an avid birdwatcher — took a cell phone video of Amy, a white woman, after he had confronted her about violating Central Park’s rules requiring dogs to remain leashed in that part of the park. When she refused to leash her dog, he began filming her.

The video showed Amy very upset at Christian’s request, threatening to call the police on him to “tell them there is an African-American man threatening my life,” and then making good on that threat, calling 911 and raising her voice to a hysterical cry, even though Christian remained some distance back from her.

“She tried to bring death-by-cop down on my head,” as Mr. Cooper would later describe their interaction to CNN’s Don Lemon.

Amy is also shown repeatedly sharply jerking her dog’s collar several times as she speaks on the phone, scenes which caused a separate outcry from animal lovers.

Both Coopers were gone from the park when police arrived on the scene, and no arrests were made at that time.

Very soon thereafter, Amy’s identity was revealed, she was subject to an intense public shaming online, was fired from her job, and gave up custody of her dog to the rescue group from which she had originally adopted him.

And now she’s facing criminal charges for filing a false police report.

Christian, notably, has not been the driving force behind the effort to prosecute Amy for attempting to send the police after a “threatening” Black man. As The New York Times reported, Christian has refused to cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney.

“On the one hand, she’s already paid a steep price,” said Cooper. “That’s not enough of a deterrent to others? Bringing her more misery just seems like piling on.”

“If the DA feels the need to pursue charges, he should pursue charges,” he added. “But he can do that without me.”

Christian has made similar comments in press interviews over the past few months. In late May, he told Don Lemon that the death threats against Amy were “wholly inappropriate and abhorrent and should stop immediately.”