A massive snowball fight in New York City’s Washington Square Park has prompted an NYPD investigation into aggression toward police officers.
On Monday afternoon at around 4 p.m., several New York City police officers were dispatched to the park to “address a large disorderly group,” an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News.
NYPD was quickly swarmed by adults yelling profanities, who filmed themselves pelting officers with snowballs. Similar scenes emerged outside the park, where it looked like the snowball fight morphed into people chasing police officers down the street.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded to the incident on Tuesday morning.
“I’ve seen the videos of kids throwing snowballs at NYPD officers in Washington Square Park. Officers, like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping New Yorkers safe and cars moving. Treat them with respect. If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me,” he wrote on X.
Other city and state leaders said the incident was more serious than “kids throwing snowballs” at officers.
Jessica Tisch, the city’s police commissioner, called the behavior “disgraceful” and “criminal.” She added that her department’s detectives would begin investigating the incident.
NYC’s Detectives’ Endowment Association president, Scott Munro, said on Tuesday evening, the snowball fight in Washington Square Park “was not harmless fun — it was a deliberate, outrageous, and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers.“
The association president then asked Mamdani and District Attorney Alvin Bragg “to ensure every individual responsible for this illegal behavior is prosecuted.”
“No free pass. No get out of jail free card. Make no mistake: detectives will do what they always do. They will identify those involved and they will apprehend them. Our men and women in blue deserve to be safe. They deserve to be protected. And they deserve to be respected. They earn it every single day,” he wrote.
Former New York leaders jumped in the conversation to condemn the incident as well.
Andrew Cuomo, the state’s former governor and the runner-up in the city’s mayoral election last November, said Mamdani had “set the tone” for the incident," due to his “history of calling the police ‘racist, evil, wicked and corrupt.’”
“Words have consequences. We are seeing that in the growing disrespect for law enforcement — just as we’ve seen it in the rise in antisemitism. Real leaders understand that. This mayor does not," he wrote.
Former Mayor Eric Adams, who served as an NYPD police officer himself, added that the incident “should make every New Yorker furious.”
“It is disgusting behavior. And the politicians who constantly bash the police and refuse to have their backs are setting a terrible example. Leadership matters. Tone matters. ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS must speak out and make it clear that attacks on our officers, in any form, will not stand. Back the police. Full stop,” he wrote.