On Thursday morning, the NYPD announced they had arrested one of the suspects in the snowballing incident from Monday, which saw police officers repeatedly pelted with snowballs, some of them the size of boulders, after they were called out to Washington Square Park to investigate allegations of unruly behavior among some in the crowd.
Here is one of the clips:
27-year-old Gusmane Coulibaly was taken into custody earlier today. And, surprise surprise, he has at least one prior arrest to his name:
The NYPD arrested a man for his alleged role in a snowfall fight that injured two NYPD officers in Washington Square Park earlier this week.
Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, was arrested Thursday morning.
He was previously arrested less than three weeks ago for an attempted robbery in the transit system, the NYPD said.
The arrest came two days after the department released the first two photos of suspects they say assaulted the officers as they walked in the park:
The next day, they released images of two additional suspects, one of whom was Coulibaly:
The NYPD shared the information about the arrest of Coulibaly amid news that Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a longtime Defund the Police proponent, was doubling down on the “snowball fight” among “kids” narrative that he first pushed Tuesday when asked about the post-blizzard incident.
Here’s what the Democratic Socialist Party of America member said at the time:
On Wednesday, Mamdani was asked about it again. He did not deviate from the narrative:
REPORTER: “Are you willing to revise your statement regarding the snowball fight, given that this was not exactly a friendly back-and-forth snowball fight. The police that were there were not throwing any snowballs. They were getting pelted themselves…””Would you consider banning these crowd-sourcing events because they can, and sometimes do, get out of hand?”MAYOR MAMDANI: “I’m not going to be banning snowball fights or organized snowball fights.”“I’ve shared my thoughts with New Yorkers and I continue to believe that what we are seeing in this response this winter blizzard from the city workers as a whole, and that includes the hardworking men and women of the NYPD, is part of why the city is getting back on its feet and I’m appreciative of that work.”
The NYC Police Benevolent Association was quick to ding Mamdani over the fact that the first arrest to come from what happened clearly was not of a “kid”:
Mamdani is also at odds with NYC Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who described what took place Monday as “criminal” acts that were under investigation:
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who endorsed Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy last September, has also condemned the snowball attacks on the officers, tweeting, “It is never acceptable to throw anything at a police officer, full stop.”
It’s unclear if more suspects will be added to the NYPD’s list. Presumably, that would depend on what other facial images they can make out from the various video clips that are circulating. Stay tuned.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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