'Central Park Karen' Video Revives 911 Hate Crime Push

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A white woman called 911 on a black man she was arguing with in New York City.

No, this wasn't the so-called "Central Park Karen" case this week. It happened in 2018 when former Brooklyn state Sen. Jesse Hamilton had a Trump supporter call the cops on him after an argument over a campaign flier.

"The pattern of targeting Black men and women for being Black and alive in the communities we all share has to stop.#LivingWhileBlack," Hamilton tweeted at the time.

Hamilton, who represented Crown Heights and other Central Brooklyn communities, proposed a bill then to make calling 911 without a valid reason on black people a hate crime. He ended up losing his election battle against Zellnor Myrie — a black progressive who retains the seat and often highlights racial issues — and his bill stalled.

But then came the viral video of Amy Cooper calling the cops on Christian Cooper, a black birder, in Central Park.

It details an altercation that began when Christian Cooper reminded the woman that dogs must be leashed in Central Park's Ramble — a popular spot among birdwatchers — to protect its wildlife. Amy Cooper, after asking Christian Cooper to stop recording her, called 911.

"I'm in the Ramble and there's a man — African-American — he has a bicycle helmet. He's recording me and threatening me and my dog," she said on the video.

Amy Cooper has since been fired from her Wall Street job, surrendered her dog back to an adoption agency and apologized for her actions on national news.

And a bill pushed by Harlem state Senator Brian Benjamin that would add falsely reporting a crime to a list of offenses that qualify as hate crimes revived Hamilton's proposed idea.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a response to a question from Patch reporter Kathleen Culliton on Thursday, said he considered what Amy Cooper did a potential crime.

"Did she commit an offense by falsely accusing someone? That is the thing to me we need to better ascertain. It was a disgusting incident, and I would say if the current laws cover that appropriately great, if they don't cover that appropriately then I think the notion of creating a new category would make sense," he said.

Hamilton has revived his call to pass the bill.

"It's time to pass it," he wrote on Twitter.

Hamilton drew heat during his state Senate tenure for caucusing separately from Democrats in the Independent Democratic Conference, which aligned with Republicans. He's challenging Assembly Member Diana Richardson in the Democratic primary for the 43rd District seat — a move Richardson and Myrie, who are allies, decried to the New York Daily News.