Central Park incident leads to call for hate crime legislation
A viral video of a woman calling 911 in Central Park after a man told her to put her dog on a leash has elected officials eager to make a change.
Assemblymember Felix Ortiz is attempting to enact a bill to designate falsely reporting an incident based on race as a hate crime in New York State.
“How many more incidents like the one we witnessed this past weekend where someone calls the police on a black man to falsely claim he was committing a crime and threatening them before we take action,” Ortiz said. “These incidents are not only racist and shameful but serious and dangerous to all involved. Too often, these incidents end in tragedy and we must take action to stop them from happening.”