Mamdani said Wednesday he does not believe criminal charges should come from a snowball fight that erupted after a major storm blanketed the Northeast and drew a crowd to Washington Square Park. In comments to reporters, he characterized the incident as “a snowball fight that got out of hand,” adding that the video he said he reviewed shows why it should be handled accordingly rather than prosecuted.
Tisch, the NYPD commissioner, and the department’s leadership rejected that framing, describing the incident in harsher terms and signaling that the department was treating it as more than playground behavior. The department said officers were struck with snowballs and ice during the Monday event and that it had begun looking for the people it said were involved.
In the hours after the incident, the NYPD released images of four people it was searching for and asked the public for help identifying them. The department said officers were hurt by hurled snow and ice, and the search effort began shortly after Mamdani downplayed the episode at an unrelated news conference earlier in the day.
Tisch’s condemnation came alongside comments from the officer union representing patrol officers. The Police Benevolent Association described the incident as “an assault,” and used the snowball fight as a way to argue that respect for officers has declined under Mamdani’s leadership.
Video posted on social media showed officers entering the park and then becoming surrounded as snowballs flew from multiple directions, as attendees recorded with their phones. The reports said the officers pushed at least two people to the ground as the crowd pelted them, and one officer’s face appeared reddened as he rubbed his eye.
Other footage also showed snowballs being thrown at officers standing just outside the park’s boundaries. The NYPD later said multiple officers were struck in the face with snowballs, and a spokesperson for the union said two officers were treated at a nearby hospital for face, head and neck injuries.
Mamdani said he had been in touch with Tisch and that he appreciated her work, while he sidestepped questions about the opposing views between the mayor’s office and the NYPD on whether the incident should lead to criminal charges. He said time and again that, based on what he saw in the videos, the incident should be treated as a snowball fight that got out of hand rather than as something warranting prosecution.
The dispute is also taking shape against a backdrop of political scrutiny of Mamdani’s approach to policing. During his campaign, he apologized for language he previously used to describe the police department, including calling it “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” in a social media post. He also retained Tisch, an establishment moderate, as commissioner, signaling an intent to pursue a measured approach to law enforcement.
The episode drew comparisons to a 2019 incident during a heat wave, when a crowd engaged in water fights that resulted in police officers being sprayed or struck and sparked backlash from police leaders. In that earlier case, police leaders criticized the activity as disrespect and suggested that officers willing to walk away from that kind of horseplay might consider leaving the job.