How arrest after snowball “fight” became a trigger for political dispute in NY

NEW YORK — Police on Thursday arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the attack on two police officers with snow and ice during a snowball fight in Washington Square Park earlier this week, in the latest chapter in an escalating political dispute.

The man, Gusmane Coulibaly, was arrested Thursday morning and accused of assaulting officers, police said. The department is still searching for three other men, two of whom are estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, and are also wanted for assault.

The arrest, three days after the episode in the park, marked a new escalation in the saga, which has fiercely divided New Yorkers and parliamentarians and has already provoked an early rift between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch.

The episode began as a huge snowball fight, organized by content creators on social media to commemorate the snowfall that hit the city on Sunday and Monday, closing schools and keeping many workers at home. But the encounter escalated when several police officers, called in to control the crowd, entered the park and were pelted with snowballs and large blocks of snow.

The fight was captured on several videos, which show the officers walking through the park, at first apparently laughing as a few snowballs pass by, but then tensing as more, larger projectiles head toward their necks and faces.

Another video shows officers retreating to their squad cars outside the park as a large group, apparently teenagers, run after them, shouting and throwing snowballs. Officers generally do not respond directly to throwers, but two officers are seen pushing people into piles of snow as they run toward a bathroom.

According to police, two officers were later taken to a nearby hospital with neck and facial injuries.

Hours after the videos circulated on Monday, Tisch called the behavior “disgraceful” and “criminal” and said detectives were investigating the episode. She was joined by a chorus of lawmakers, police union representatives and critics of the mayor, who condemned the conduct as aggressive and, in some cases, illegal.

Mamdani, for his part, on Tuesday morning praised the police’s work during the blizzard and asked New Yorkers to be respectful. But later that day he broke with the commissioner by saying that the situation seemed little more than a snowball fight and that he did not believe anyone should be charged.

While the political dispute unfolded in press conferences and on the X network between Tuesday and Wednesday, a flood of memes and posts took over the networks, mocking the indignation of the police officers and criticizing them for “ruining the fun”.

As of Thursday, it was unclear whether the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office would pursue charges against Coulibaly or others who may be arrested. But the arrest was already beginning to be celebrated on social media by the city’s police unions.

According to police, Coulibaly had previously been arrested in New York for attempted robbery of the transportation system. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month to charges of robbery, simple theft and harassment, and remains free, according to court records.