27-Year-Old Man Arrested for Assault on NYPD, Despite Mamdani Calling Participants ‘Kids at a Snowball Fight’

The New York Police Department arrested a 27-year-old man — who was arrested three weeks earlier on an attempted robbery charge — in connection with a snowball assault at Washington Square Park that sent two uniformed cops to the hospital, an incident New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani dismissed as “kids at a snowball fight.”The suspect, Gusmane Coulibaly, was arrested early Thursday morning at his Bronx residence by warrants detectives, a law enforcement source tells the Sun. He is charged with assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct, and obstructing governmental administration during the incident in Greenwich Village. Mr. Coulibaly was arrested in the Bronx three weeks ago for “attempted robbery in the transit system,” police said Thursday. Mr. Coulibaly used “verbal threats” in the robbery attempt, a law enforcement source tells the Sun. It wasn’t immediately known where exactly that incident took place or whether Mr. Coulibaly was free on bail at the time of Monday’s snowball fight.On Monday, video footage circulated on social media showing NYPD officers being pelted repeatedly in the body and head with snowballs, at close range, by a group of young people who were gathered at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The officers appeared distressed but did not retaliate against those in the park despite the mayor’s description of the incident as a “snowball fight.”New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is seen telling the press on Wednesday that the incident at Washington Square park was merely ‘kids at a snowball fight.’ AP Photo/Yuki IwamuraTwo officers sustained injuries to their heads, necks, and faces during the incident. On Tuesday evening, the NYPD released pictures of two suspects wanted for assault on a police officer, alleging they “intentionally struck the officers multiple times with snow and ice,” causing injury.”In response, Mr. Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, told reporters he did not believe anyone should be charged in connection with the incident. “I can just tell you from the video I saw, it looked like kids at a snowball fight,” Mr. Mamdani said.He continued to downplay the incident on Wednesday, telling reporters that what he observed was “a snowball fight.”“It should be treated accordingly. It was one that got out of hand. But that’s what it was,” Mr. Mamdani said on Wednesday.New York City Police Department officers at the scene of an attack by youth throwing snowballs. WNYWIn a statement on Thursday, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry applauded the NYPD’s arrest while sharply criticizing Mr. Mamdani’s decision to minimize an incident that injured two uniformed police officers. “A 27-year-old with a recent attempted robbery arrest is not a ‘kid.’ This arrest sends a clear message that assaults on police officers cannot and will not be minimized or tolerated,” Mr. Hendry said in a statement. Despite the arrest, a retired NYPD lieutenant and host of the podcast New York’s Finest: Retired & Unfiltered, John D. Macari Jr., tells the Sun he remained“furious” over the city’s handling of the snowball incident and Mr. Mamdani’s public remarks.“Zohran Mamdani and his NYPD management team have sent a clear message to rank-and-file officers: stand down, hesitate, and retreat,” Mr. Macari tells the Sun.The acclaimed writer and far left activist, Joyce Carol Oates, 87, mocked the idea that police officers were seriously injured by the snowballs. XHe also questioned the NYPD’s decision not to deploy the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group unit to Washington Square Park during the incident. Mr. Mamdani has signaled he intends to disband the SRG unit, which responds to disruptive protests as one of its functions, despite former Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, who created the unit in 2015, calling it “the right choice to police protests around the city.”“Officers and bystanders were pelted with ice by an unruly crowd, and the NYPD’s SRG, the unit built to handle violent crowds, was intentionally not deployed,” Mr. Macari tells the Sun.He adds, “New Yorkers should understand Zohran Mamdani’s NYPD no longer engages in crowd control; the crowd controls them.”

27-Year-Old Man Arrested for Assault on NYPD, Despite Mamdani Calling Participants ‘Kids at a Snowball Fight’

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