‘Kids throwing snowballs,’ Mamdani says 15 hours after NYPD head decries ‘criminal’ attacks on cops
The NYPD told JNS that "multiple uniformed officers were struck in the head at close range with snowballs causing injuries to the head, face and neck area."
JNS
Feb24, 2026
“The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops. I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal,” police commissioner Jessica Tisch said after a snowball attack on the police.
But Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said that it was just “kids throwing snowballs.”
Nearly 15 hours after Jessica Tisch, the New York City Police Department commissioner, decried attacks on police officers in Washington Square Park, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that it was just “kids throwing snowballs.”
“The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops. I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal,” Tisch stated at 9:55 p.m. on Monday. “Our detectives are investigating this matter.”
At 11:46 a.m. on Tuesday, Mamdani, who has drawn criticism for campaign promises to downgrade policing in the city, said that he had “seen the videos of kids throwing snowballs at NYPD officers in Washington Square Park.”
“Officers,
like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping
New Yorkers safe and cars moving,” he wrote. “Treat them with respect.
If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me.”
Many, including the Israel Heritage Foundation, were quick to point out that the offenders, who pelted the policemen repeatedly in the widely circulated video footage, weren’t children.
“This wasn’t ‘kids being kids,'” the New York state Republican Party stated. “It was a violent mob inspired by Zohran Mamdani’s anti-police rhetoric.”
David Carr, a Republican and minority leader of the New York City Council, stated that “this wasn’t just kids in a friendly neighborhood snowball fight.”
“These
officers were assaulted, and it’s under criminal investigation,” Carr
said. “Minimizing it only serves to encourage more attacks on the NYPD
and law enforcement generally.”
Vickie Paladino, a Republican on the City Council who represents parts of Queens, responded to Mamdani’s statement.
“What an absolute child. Just a complete lack of responsibility or even acknowledgement of what really happened,” she wrote. “The cops are just completely on their own. We all are.”
Mamdani was asked about the incident during a press conference on Tuesday at NYC Emergency Management headquarters.
“Regarding the snowball incident, are people overreacting to it?” a reporter asked the mayor.
“You know, I’ll leave it to others to share their opinions, but I’ve shared mine,” Mamdani said.
“I
want to follow up on the snowball incident. The head of the PBA,” the
Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, “says the people
who were involved in attacking the police officers should be charged
criminally with assault on a police officer,” a reporter said. “I wonder
if you agree with that, if the people can be identified.”
“I don’t—from the videos that I’ve seen—it looks like a snowball fight,” the mayor said.
At the end of the press conference, a reporter asked if the NYPD officers had any injuries.
“I think that there were two officers who
were facing lacerations on their face,” Mamdani said. He was asked if he
would call for those who aided the attackers to be prosecuted.
“Look, I’ve seen the videos of this snowball fight,” he said. “I think that it was a snowball fight. Thank you.”
The NYPD told JNS that police officers responded to a 911 call about a disorderly group inside the park at around 4:15 p.m. on Monday.
“Upon arrival, officers observed a large
crowd of people throwing snowballs. Multiple uniformed officers were
struck in the head at close range with snowballs, causing injuries to
the head, face and neck area,” the department told JNS. “The officers
were transported by EMS in stable condition to Northwell Greenwich
Village Hospital for treatment.”
“No arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing,” it told JNS.
Scott Munro, president of the Detectives’
Endowment Association, a union that represents 20,000 current and
retired detectives in the city, stated
before Tisch’s and Mamdani’s statements that “what we saw in Washington
Square Park today was not harmless fun. It was a deliberate, outrageous
and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers.”
“The
Detectives’ Endowment Association is calling on Mayor Mamdani and
District Attorney Bragg to ensure every individual responsible for this
illegal behavior is prosecuted,” Munro said. “No free pass. No get out
of jail free card.”
“Make no mistake. Detectives will do what
they always do. They will identify those involved, and they will
apprehend them. Our men and women in blue deserve to be safe. They
deserve to be protected, and they deserve to be respected,” he added.
“They earn it every single day.”
Benny Polatseck, a Chassidic Jew who was a
multimedia producer in the prior mayoral administration and who is a
frequent critic of Mamdani, wrote that the mayor’s was the “weakest, most pathetic condemnation I’ve ever seen, if you can even call it that.”
“They
were not all kids,” he said. “Ending with ‘if anyone’s catching a
snowball, it’s me’ makes it crystal clear he thinks all this is a joke.”
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