Amy Cooper, who called the New York Police Department on a black birdwatcher in Central Park last year, filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer Tuesday.
Cooper’s employer, Franklin Templeton, fired her after she falsely accused black birdwatcher Christian Cooper of threatening her life in footage in 2020. Cooper filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan seeking unspecified damages for defamation, according to the suit obtained by Reuters.
The suit claimed there was no evidence racism played a factor in Cooper’s call to police. It claimed she feared for her safety since she was allegedly targeted by Cooper during an ongoing feud between birdwatchers and dog owners. (RELATED: ‘There’s An African American Man Threatening My Life’: Woman Calls NYPD After Being Asked To Leash Her Dog, Later Apologizes)
“Even a perfunctory investigation would have shown that Plaintiff did not shout at Christian Cooper or call the police from Central Park on May 25, 2020 because she was a racist.”
“She did these things because she was alone in the park and frightened to death after being selected as the next target of Christian Cooper, an overzealous birdwatcher engaged in Central Park’s ongoing feud between birdwatchers and dog owners,” the suit claimed, according to ABC News.
Here’s a twist: Amy Cooper is suing her former employer for firing her after a video of her Central Park encounter with a Black bird-watcher went viral. She claims racial bias. w @Jonesieman and @SarahMaslinNir https://t.co/WPDekz78eM
— Ed Shanahan (@edkshanahan) May 27, 2021
The suit argued that the company’s decision destroyed Cooper’s life due to false statements made about the incident.
“[The] Plaintiff’s personal and professional life has been destroyed by the knowingly false statements defendants made,” the lawsuit said.
Franklin Templeton defended its decision to dismiss Cooper from her position as an insurance portfolio manager saying that she made baseless claims. The company fired her a day after the footage’s release, saying they do not tolerate racism.
“We believe the circumstances of the situation speak for themselves and that the company responded appropriately,” the company said in a statement.
Cooper called the police on the birdwatcher after he requested she leash her dog in Central Park in May 2020.
“I’m going to tell them [the police] that there’s an African American man threatening my life,” Cooper said in the footage.
Manhattan prosecutors charged Cooper in July 2020 for filing a false police report. The charges were dismissed in February after Cooper completed non-bias training.