Police said they are investigating an incident at Washington Square Park on Monday when members of a large crowd pelted several NYPD officers with snowballs after a massive blizzard walloped the city.
As in past winter storms, a snowball fight had been organized at the park as the blizzard wound down, according to social media posts. Officers responded to a 911 call about a disorderly crowd at the park just after 4 p.m., NYPD officials said.
A viral video showed people in the crowd jeering and booing at two of the officers. Some crowd members hurled snowballs in the officers’ direction, and the officers were repeatedly hit in the head and face.
At one point, the officers pushed at least three people to the ground along a park path, according to the video. The officers jogged toward some of the other people in the crowd, but were outnumbered and eventually walked away.
Police said emergency medical workers took the officers to Northwell Greenwich Village Hospital in stable condition for treatment.
Another video posted online showed members of the crowd throwing snowballs at an NYPD vehicle in the park. Several officers get out of a neighboring police van and enter the crowd.
Police did not make any immediate arrests in connection with the incident, but NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and some police unions rebuked the snowball throwers.
“I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal,” Tisch wrote in a post on X. “Our detectives are investigating this matter.”
New York City’s Police Benevolent Association called for those responsible to be arrested and charged with assaulting the officers.
“And all of our city leaders must speak up to condemn this despicable attack,” the union wrote on social media.
Detectives’ Endowment Association President Scott Munro also weighed in, saying the incident “was not harmless fun.”
“It was a deliberate, outrageous, and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers,” he tweeted, calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to prosecute those involved in the incident.
The mayor, in a post on X late Tuesday morning, said he had seen the videos, and called for civility.
“Officers, like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping New Yorkers safe and cars moving,” Mamdani said. “Treat them with respect. If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me.”
A spokesperson for Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement, “It is never acceptable to throw anything at a police officer, full stop.”
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and has been updated with additional details.
First Appeared on
Source link
Leave feedback about this