Amy Cooper is suing her former employer, Franklin Templeton, for wrongful termination because they referred to her actions as “racist” after she called police with a false report of a Black man in Central Park threatening her when he asked to leash her dog, Bloomberg Law reports.

Amy Cooper was walking her newly-adopted dog off-leash in Central Park in May 2020 when Christian Cooper, a Black man who is no relation to Amy Cooper in the park bird watching, asked her to put her dog on a leash in compliance with park rules.  Amy Cooper immediately became agitated and called called police during the interchange, which Christian Cooper was recording on his cell phone.  Amy Cooper told police, falsely, that Christian Cooper was threatening her and stalking her.

Franklin Templeton fired Amy Cooper the following day after the video of her escalation of the situation went viral. 

Amy Cooper said her former employer acted rashly and fired her because she was a white woman reportedly feeling endangered by a Black man “who she says had a history of ‘aggressively confronting’ dog owners for walking their dogs off-leash. He similarly initiated the dispute with her in the same aggressive manner while she was walking her dog alone, causing her ‘to reasonably fear’ for the safety of her and her pet, Cooper said.”

The complaint says that Amy Cooper was subjected to cruelty and threats due to the publicity Franklin Templeton’s firing contributed to.  Amy Cooper is suing for back pay and lost bonus; loss of unvested funds and other benefits; reinstatement or front pay; compensatory damages for emotional distress; punitive damages; attorneys’ fees and costs.