New York police said they arrested Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, accusing him of assaulting officers during a Washington Square Park confrontation earlier in the week in which two officers were treated at a hospital for facial lacerations. The arrest came amid a political dispute over whether the episode amounted to criminal conduct or a snowball fight that escalated.
The New York Police Department said the incident took place Monday, Feb. 23, in Washington Square Park, after a winter storm left the city with deep snowfall. Video circulating online shows officers trying to move through a dense crowd as people throw snowballs and appear to dump heavy snow on officers’ heads; other clips show officers backing away as the crowd continues throwing snow.
Police officials said two officers suffered facial lacerations and were treated at a hospital. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the conduct “disgraceful” and “criminal,” saying detectives were investigating.
On Thursday morning, the NYPD said it arrested Coulibaly, 27, and accused him of assaulting officers during the Washington Square Park incident. The department said it had earlier released images of four people it sought to identify in connection with the case and that three other suspects were still being sought. Police said it was not Coulibaly’s first recent arrest, adding that he had been arrested less than three weeks earlier on an attempted-robbery allegation in the transit system.
Authorities did not immediately specify the charges Coulibaly would face in the snowball case.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has described himself as a democratic socialist, urged New Yorkers to treat police officers “with respect” but said publicly that the videos he watched looked like a snowball fight that “got out of hand.” In earlier remarks reported by multiple outlets, he also characterized participants in the video as “kids” and said he did not believe the situation should lead to criminal charges.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, responding to the incident, said it is “never acceptable to throw anything at a police officer.” The Police Benevolent Association, which represents many NYPD officers, welcomed the arrest and criticized the mayor’s earlier framing, writing on social media that “a 27-year-old is not a ‘kid.’”
