A video of a woman calling the police on a black man claiming he was threatening her after he asked her to put her dog on a leash in New York’s Central Park has gone viral.
In the video filmed by Christian Cooper, the woman demands he stop recording her or she will call the police and tell them “an African American man is threatening my life”.
The woman appears to go ahead and call the police, repeating that she is being threatened as Mr Cooper keeps his distance.
Mr Cooper, an avid bird watcher, told NBC New York he was spotting birds in the Ramble area of Central Park at 8am on Monday when he asked the woman to put a leash on her dog because she was in an area of the park where dogs are required to be restrained at all times.
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"If the habitat is destroyed we won’t be able to go there to see the birds, to enjoy the plantings," he said.
When the woman refused Mr Cooper offered the dog a treat and began to film with his phone.
"The only way they can keep the dog from eating the treat is to put it on a leash," he told NBC New York.
"At some point, she decided 'I’m gonna play the race card', I guess."
He said recent racially-fuelled incidents in the United States made him feel he had to record the situation to prove his innocence.
"We live in an age of Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are gunned down because of assumptions people make about black men, black people, and I’m just not going to participate in that," Mr Cooper said.
The New York Police Department attended the scene and said no arrests or complaints were made after they determined the incident was a “verbal dispute”, according to the NBC New York report.
Footage of the incident has since received more than 14 million views after it was posted on Twitter by Mr Cooper’s sister.
The woman has been temporarily stood down from her job with her employer, investment management firm Franklin Templeton.
“We take these matters very seriously, and we do not condone racism of any kind,” a statement from the company said.
“While we are investigating the situation, the employee involved has been put on administrative leave.”
In addition to racism claims, the woman has also been accused of animal cruelty, with the footage appearing to show her choking her dog when she grabbed it by the collar.
Dog rescue organisation Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue said in a statement on social media that the woman had voluntarily surrendered the dog to them while the incident is being addressed.
“The dog is now in the care of our rescue and he is safe and in good health,” the statement said.
