The recent episode of friction between NYC Mayor Mamdani and the NYPD that arose on February 23rd, 2026, when officers responded to Washington Square Park to investigate a complaint of multiple people being on the roof of a building inside the park. When officers arrived at the scene, police said the crowd began throwing chunks of ice at them. Two officers were taken to the emergency room after being struck in the face and head. The leaders of the city’s police unions were outraged and demanded a criminal investigation into the attack.
But the mayor had a different view of the incident. “From the videos that I’ve seen, it looks like a snowball fight,” Mamdani said. By this afternoon, Mayor Mamdani reiterated his position by downplaying the episode, after being asked multiple times. “I can just tell you from the video I saw, it looked like kids at a snowball fight.”
NYPD PBA President Patrick Hendry took a dim view of the incident and the mayor’s assessment. “This was disgraceful. It was not a joke. It was not a game. It was a vicious attack. An assault on two New York City Police Officers that landed them in the hospital,” PBA President Hendry said. After viewing the video of the melee, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch agreed. Posting on social media, “The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal. Our detectives are investigating this matter.” But later the Mayor seemed to break with the commissioner, saying that he did not believe anyone should be charged.
A suspect was subsequently arrested for the assault on February 25th, 2026, after the viral incident between New Yorkers and NYPD officers during this historic blizzard snowballed into Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first test with the police brass after he downplayed the issue. The NYPD later confirmed that the suspect, Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, was previously arrested less than three weeks prior for an attempted robbery in the transit system.
The NYPD Police Benevolent Association President applauded the arrest while addressing Mayor Mamdani, who previously brushed off the snowball bombardment as a group of kids goofing off. “This individual is an adult who was recently arrested for attempted robbery in the transit system” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.
The NYPD’s Detectives Endowment Association released an official statement regarding Officers getting pelted with ice and snowballs. DEA President Scott Munro said “What we saw in Washington Square Park today was not harmless fun — it was a deliberate, outrageous, and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers. The Detectives’ Endowment Association is calling on Mayor Mamdani and District Attorney 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.”
The NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association Vincent Vallelong said, “Today it is snowballs. Tomorrow it could be rocks, bottles, or worse. We cannot condemn strongly enough the recent disgraceful and dangerous attacks on NYPD Police Officers while responding to a 911 call in Washington Square Park.”
The National Police Defense Foundation (NPDF) Executive Board stands with NYPD PBA President Patrick Hendry, DEA President Munro, and NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong in denouncing Mayor Mamdani’s casual display of indifference surrounding the assault of police officers. By siding with the criminal elements of society, the mayor does a great disservice to the men and women of the NYPD.
At the suspects arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took the unprecedented step of dropping the Second-Degree Assault charges against suspect Gusmane Coulibaly. Instead, the defendant was charged with low level Harassment, a mere violation, and misdemeanor for “Obstructing the Administration of Law.” Neither charge carries a presumption of incarceration.
The NPDF which is the proud sponsor of the Congressionally recognized “Safe Cop” program expresses its outrage at the lenient prosecution of this violent defendant whose action caused two police officers to seek hospital treatment.
For more information, please contact the National Police Defense Foundation at 1-888 SAFE COP
