NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police said a 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday after officers were injured by ice and snow during a massive snowball fight in Washington Square Park this week.
In a brief post on social media, the NYPD said the man was arrested for “assaulting one of our officers.” A spokesman for the department said no additional information was immediately available, including what the man had been charged with.
After his arrest, it was not known whether the man had a lawyer.
Days earlier, videos of Monday’s snowball fights went viral, including one showing two police officers being bombarded with snowballs by a rowdy crowd. Police officers were hit by snowballs from all directions as they paced the park’s sidewalk, pushing at least two people to the ground.
The department said multiple officers were struck in the face by snowballs, and a union spokesman said two officers were treated at a nearby hospital for injuries to their face, head and neck.
Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani downplayed the altercation as a “snowball fight that got out of hand” and said he didn’t think criminal charges were warranted. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The city’s police department has pursued the matter and released photos of the four people they are looking for. Police Chief Jessica Tish called the snowball fight “disgraceful” and “criminal.”