Washington Square Park snowball fight leads to second arrest

A second man was arrested Wednesday in connection with last week’s chaotic snowball fight in Washington Square Park in which several police officers were hit and injured by flying snowballs, police reported.

Eric Wilson Jr., 18, was charged with misdemeanor obstruction of governmental administration and harassment, the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Fox 5 New York. reported. Wilson turned himself in Wednesday morning, according to the New York Post.

“This second arrest sends an important message,” said Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA). “These disgraceful attacks on our police officers last week were serious. They were not a game. They did not end when the snow melted. This was a despicable attack on our police officers, our officers, and there were consequences.”

The snowball fight broke out last Monday as an organized event promoted on social media. When NYPD officers reportedly arrived to control the crowd, they were pelted with snowballs, allegedly rocks. The PBA said two officers went to the hospital for treatment of head and facial injuries.

Following the incident, authorities released photos of the four men and made the first arrest three days later.

The first suspect taken into custody, 27-year-old Gusmane Coulibaly, was initially charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.

But prosecutors dismissed the aggravated assault charge, saying there was no evidence that the officers’ injuries were directly caused by Coulibaly, Fox 5 reported. The publisher said that the charges consisted of misdemeanor obstruction and harassment of government administration.

The NYPD added that Coulibaly was arrested for an attempted robbery on the public transportation system less than three weeks before the incident.

NYPD RELEASES PHOTOS OF SUSPECTS WITH HAIR ON THEIR FACE USING SNOWBALLS AFTER MAMDANI CLAIMED THE ATTACKERS WERE ‘KIDS’

Snow fell on NYPD officers during a blizzard in New York. (@BGonthescene/X)

Hendry claimed that the snowballs thrown contained ice and rocks, which resulted in injuries to several police officers.

“This wasn’t just a ‘snowball fight.'” This was an attack in which adults threw ice and rocks, resulting in two police officers being hospitalized with head and facial injuries, Hendry said earlier.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch added in a post on social media that the participants involved should be punished for their “shameful” and “criminal” actions.

“I want to be very clear,” Tisch said. “The behavior depicted is disgraceful and criminal. Our detectives are investigating this matter.”

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the incident in which NYPD officers were pelted with snow and ice was a snowball fight that “got out of control.” (NYPD; Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo)

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said police officers should be treated with respect, but the people involved should not face criminal charges.

“As the mayor has said, police officers deserve to be treated with respect,” his spokesman said. “The videos he saw showed a snowball fight getting out of control. He does not believe this situation will escalate to criminal charges.”

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On the other hand, New York Governor Kathy Hochul struck a harsher tone, saying criminal charges seemed appropriate.

“Our police officers put themselves in harm’s way every day, and there is no situation where it is appropriate to throw anything at a police officer,” Hochul said, according to Fox 5.

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