{"id":613650,"date":"2026-02-24T21:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/613650\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:41:07","slug":"nyc-police-officers-hit-with-snowballs-during-snowball-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/613650\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC police officers hit with snowballs during snowball fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 New York City police are investigating after officers were pelted with snowballs while responding to a massive snowball fight at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, as a winter storm blanketed the Northeast<\/a> in snow.<\/p>\n

A video of the fracas shows two uniformed officers pacing a walkway in the park Monday as snowballs fly at them from all directions, hitting the officers and covering them in snow.<\/p>\n

The officers, growing visibly frustrated, shoved at least two people to the ground as snowballs continued to whizz by. At one point, a person runs up behind an officer and mushes some snow onto his head. One of the officers can be seen rubbing his eye toward the end of the video.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday, the New York Police Department said multiple uniformed officers were struck in the face with snowballs and were \u201cremoved by EMS in stable condition\u201d to a nearby hospital, but did not disclose additional information on their injuries. No arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

Jessica Tisch, the city\u2019s police commissioner, called the behavior \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and \u201ccriminal\u201d and said the department is investigating.<\/p>\n

Several political figures in the city were quick to denounce the dust up, with many of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s critics seizing on the incident as evidence that respect for law enforcement has declined under the new mayor, who faced attacks during his campaign over criticisms<\/a> he made of the department in 2020. Mamdani has walked back those past remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, in a post on X on Tuesday, wrote \u201cOfficers, like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping New Yorkers safe and cars moving. Treat them with respect. If anyone\u2019s catching a snowball, it\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a news conference later in the day, Mamdani was asked whether he thought anyone should be criminally charged over the snowballs and appeared to downplay the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the videos that I\u2019ve seen, it looks like a snowball fight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The head of the city\u2019s largest police union called Mamdani\u2019s response a \u201ccomplete failure of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not just a \u2018snowball fight.\u2019 This was an assault,\u201d Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said in a statement, adding \u201cBy ignoring their injuries and dismissing the incident, the mayor has sent a disgraceful message to every police officer who serves this city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 New York City police are investigating after officers were pelted with snowballs while responding…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":613651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[57,12939,2936,1571,405,403,50,198162,61,67,132,68,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-613650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-general-news","10":"tag-jessica-tisch","11":"tag-law-enforcement","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-patrick-hendry","17":"tag-u-s-news","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116127785625377714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}