Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday again dismissively waved off viral videos of NYPD officers being pelted with snow as a “snowball fight” – even as his top cop issued a stern warning to the Washington Square Park powder pugilists.
“Don’t mess with my cops,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Tisch told The Post, as she left City Hall following a meeting with Mamdani administration officials, that she spoke with the mayor after he repeatedly downplayed Monday’s icy incident in the Greenwich Village park.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his remarks on the mob pelting NYPD officers with snowballs. @NYCMayor/X“I did speak to the mayor and the investigation is ongoing,” she said.
The snowy skirmish has become a not-at-all-fluffy controversy for the still-fledgling Mamdani mayoralty.
Videos show miffed NYPD cops responding to the otherwise-jolly snowball fight – which was organized by the popular New York City-based Instagram show, Sidetalk – getting repeatedly bombarded with a fusillade of flakes.
Two officers were treated for injuries at a hospital afterward, with one suffering a possible contusion behind his eye and the other experiencing a headache, police sources have said.
Mamdani said Tuesday that police officers needed to be treated with respect, but broke with Tisch’s assessment that the fracas was “criminal.”
NYPD officers are hit with snowballs by a group of people at Washington Square Park. FreedomNewsTV)
People walking after NYPD officers at Washington Square Park. FreedomNewsTV)Hizzoner chalked it up as childish fun gone overboard, sparking outrage from some police unions. He repeatedly called the culprits were “kids,” despite footage appearing to show adults.
By Wednesday, Mamdani showed no signs of being snowed over.
“I’ve said time and time again that I having seen these videos, to me it was a snowball fight that got out of hand and it should be treated accordingly,” he insisted at an unrelated news conference.
When pressed again on the comments by the mayor, Tisch herself held firm.
NYPD officers being hit with snow in Washington Square Park during NYC’s blizzard. FreedomNewsTV)“I’ll say, as to anyone looking to do harm to the police, my message is very clear: I am a protective Jewish mother. Don’t mess with my cops,” she said.
Police unions and several elected officials condemned the snow blows, often with chilling warnings.
“Today it is snowballs. Tomorrow it could be rocks, bottles, or worse,” the Sergeants Benevolent Association union posted on X.
The NYPD has so far released images of four suspects who allegedly intentionally struck two cops with ice and snow in the face, head and neck, and is seeking to charge them with assault on a police officer.
But many New Yorkers and others believed the cops’ and their boosters’ reactions were a bit overheated and oversensitive.
“Today it is snowballs. Tomorrow it could be anvils, a piano that falls on your head and makes your teeth turn into its keys, a photorealistic tunnel and roadway painted on a brick wall, or worse,” one X user mockingly responded to the sergeants’ union.
“The Russian people were more stoic about Stalingrad during the Nazi siege than the NYPD is about a snowball fight,” Jeet Heer, a writer with The Nation, a prominent lefty magazine, posted on X.
