MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) — The NYPD has released images of two people they are looking to question after several NYPD officers were hit with snowballs and injured on Monday.
New York City Mayor Mamdani on Tuesday said that he does not believe anyone should be charged in the incident.
“From the videos that I’ve seen, it looks like a snowball fight,” he said.
The Police Benevolent Association blasted the mayor’s response as a failure of leadership.
“This was not just a ‘snowball fight.’ This was an assault – by adults throwing chunks of ice and rocks – that landed two police officers in the hospital with head and face injuries,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.
Officers responded to Washington Square Park in Manhattan at 4 p.m. on Monday to a report of multiple individuals on a roof inside the park.
When they arrived on the scene, police say the crowd began throwing snowballs at them.
Two officers would end up in the emergency room after being struck in the face and head. No one was arrested. The leaders of the city’s police unions are outraged and demanding a criminal investigation.
“This was disgraceful. It wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t a game. It was a vicious attack. An assault on two New York City police forces that landed them in the hospital,” 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 this afternoon, Mayor Mamdani downplayed 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,” Mamdani said.
Rahul Nag was there. He told us that it started off as harmless fun but escalated when several young people began tossing snow from the roof of the park’s restrooms. The officers were confronted after they arrived to investigate.
“It wasn’t supposed to be violent. It was – it started out as a very fun thing to do. And then, you know, it just escalated, and there weren’t any older kids or older people out here. It was just young kids having fun. And then it kind of became a back-and-forth thing between NYPD and those young kids, you know what I mean?” Nag said.
Mamdani said the officers and all city workers must be treated with respect.
“They have been keeping New Yorkers safe. And they have also been at the heart of our efforts of digging New Yorkers’ cars out of these kinds of conditions and ensuring that our ambulances, our MTA buses, can keep functioning. Across this city, they and our entire city workforce deserve to be treated with respect,” he said.
NYC Mayor Mamdani held a news conference on Tuesday afternoon
Mamdani added, “The only person in our city’s workforce who deserves to be hit with a snowball is me.”
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