From Washington Square Park to the Politico probe, a pattern is emerging that tests the mayor’s authority
The Snowball Fight Was the Match — the Powder Keg Was Already There
A mass snowball fight in Washington Square Park during the blizzard aftermath of February 23 went viral for all the wrong reasons: officers pelted with packed ice, two cops treated at a hospital for facial lacerations, and a mayor who went on record saying the people who threw at police should not be charged. But according to reporting by Politico and a constellation of other political observers watching the early Mamdani administration, the snowball incident was not the origin of a problem — it was the visible eruption of one that had been building since inauguration day.
The underlying tensions are structural. Mamdani ran as a progressive candidate who, during his time in the State Assembly, had supported redirecting NYPD funding and expanding non-police responses to social crises. He won on that platform. Upon taking office, he made a strategic decision to retain Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, a holdover from the Eric Adams administration, signaling his intent to work within the existing institution. He also publicly apologized for past statements critical of the NYPD. These were significant gestures of goodwill toward the department. But goodwill is not the same as alignment, and the snowball incident made that difference visible.
When the Commissioner and the Mayor Disagree Publicly
After the February 23 incident, Commissioner Tisch posted on social media that the behavior depicted in videos from Washington Square Park was “disgraceful, and it is criminal,” and confirmed detectives were investigating. Mamdani, speaking at a news conference the following day, said: “From the videos I saw, it looks like a snowball fight.” Asked directly whether those who threw snow at officers should face assault charges, the mayor said: “I don’t.” The contrast was stark and public. A mayor and his own police commissioner, speaking about the same incident in the same news cycle, arrived at opposite conclusions about whether a crime had been committed.
PBA President Patrick Hendry called the mayor’s response “a complete failure of leadership,” saying the incident involved adults throwing chunks of ice and rocks at officers who ended up in the hospital. Governor Kathy Hochul, a Mamdani ally, said it is “never acceptable to throw anything at a police officer, full stop.” The political pressure was real and immediate. Within days, the NYPD announced the arrest of Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, a man who had been arrested less than three weeks earlier for attempted robbery in the transit system. The PBA was quick to note the irony that the person Mamdani had described as one of the “kids” in a snowball fight was a 27-year-old with a recent criminal record.
A Pattern Beyond One Park
Politico’s reporting on the “snowballing” NYPD troubles went beyond the Washington Square incident to document a broader pattern of friction between the mayor’s office and police leadership. Sources within the department described frustration with what they characterized as inconsistent messaging from City Hall on public order issues. Advocates and community organizers, by contrast, viewed Mamdani’s reluctance to criminalize the snowball fight as consistent with a philosophy of proportionality in law enforcement — and saw the NYPD’s public pushback as an institutional attempt to reassert its own authority against a mayor committed to changing the balance of power between police and community.
The timing compounds the difficulty. Mamdani is simultaneously trying to establish his bona fides with the NYPD rank-and-file while advancing an agenda that includes creating a new Department of Community Safety — a civilian agency that would deploy clinicians rather than police to mental health-related 911 calls, potentially diverting significant call volume away from the NYPD. Officers are watching that proposal closely. Unions are preparing to fight it. The snowball fight became, in that context, a proxy battle over something larger: who controls the terms of public safety in New York City, and whether the mayor’s political philosophy can survive contact with real-world incidents that don’t fit neatly into either a progressive or a punitive frame.
What Comes Next
Manhattan prosecutors declined to pursue felony assault charges against Coulibaly, saying they could not prove physical injury was directly caused by his conduct. He was charged with misdemeanor obstruction and a harassment violation. The NYPD and PBA were unsatisfied. Mamdani has not changed his stated position. The City Council has scheduled a hearing on snow removal and emergency response. Tisch remains in her post. The Department of Community Safety legislation is pending. None of these threads are resolved, and the political friction they generate is accumulating rather than dissipating.
For research on police-community relations and reform, see the Brennan Center on policing. For NYPD official statements, visit NYPD official site. For New York Penal Law on assault, see NY Penal Law Section 120.05. For research on community safety alternatives, see the National Institute of Justice.
