#Central Park ‘Karen’ busted – but she’s suffered enough

She lost her job, her reputation, and now, perhaps, her freedom. When will society be satisfied that Central Park Karen has been punished enough?

Amy Cooper, 41, was arrested Monday and hit with one count of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. She will be arraigned on misdemeanor charges by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in October, and could face up to a year in prison for her allegedly false 911 call.

Cooper, quickly labeled a “Karen,” sparked a frenzy online. Her act of calling the cops on black bird-watcher Christian Cooper was seen as a monstrous act of racism.

A man innocently asked her to leash her dog, the narrative goes, and with hate in her racist heart she called the NYPD to report him.

What really happened was more nuanced. The two (unrelated) Coopers were wandering the Central Park Ramble, a delightful stretch of intertwined pathways shaded by trees, ringing with bird sounds. Amy Cooper’s dog was off-leash. Christian Cooper asked her to leash her dog so the pup wouldn’t scare the birds. She bristled; she didn’t want to.

He retorted that he had some dog treats that he kept on hand for this purpose — that he’d lure her dog away.

If the definition of “Karen” is, aside from being a white woman, acting like a busybody, then both Coopers are guilty of the name.

Amy Cooper called the cops; “I’m in the Ramble and an African-American man with a bicycle helmet, he is recording me and threatening my dog,” she said.

Bird-watching Cooper, filming the encounter, knew he’d have the Internet on his side. Amy Cooper believed the cops would be on hers. It was a stand-off, and she lost.

At any other time, the whole fight might have blown over. But it happened the morning of May 25, the same day George Floyd was killed while in Minneapolis police custody.

In the racial reckoning that followed, no Karen can be spared.

Criminals were released from prison this spring in an attempt to staunch the spread of COVID-19. Bail reform was enacted that allowed repeat offenders to walk free without consequence or remand. Violent crimes, murders and gun violence are rising across the city.

Yet a woman who was fired from investment firm Franklin Templeton after this incident, who was denounced by politicians, is facing jail — for getting into a dispute over a leashed dog.

She’s already been punished. Leave the poor Karen alone.