The fallout from Monday’s snowball fight in Washington Square Park, which saw several cops injured after being pelted with ice and snow, continued on Wednesday as the NYPD released images of two more people wanted for the assault.
Both individuals are wanted for questioning, along with two other males whom the NYPD identified Tuesday, for the Feb. 23 incident at Washington Square Park, which the department has now classified as an official crime: an assault on a member of service.
Several cops were injured in the frigid fusillade of hard snowballs hurled at them as they responded to the iconic Greenwich Village greenspace on Monday afternoon, where a large snowball fight organized online occurred.
Some of the pelted officers suffered lacerations and wound up being treated at a local hospital, police reported.
In the aftermath of the incident, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called for a criminal investigation — a stance she maintained Tuesday night hours after Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemingly disagreed, saying in his view that it only “looked like kids at a snowball fight” responsible for the attack.
“The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops. I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal. Our detectives are investigating this matter,” Tisch wrote in a late-night social media post on Monday.
Police brass and unions have agreed with Tisch’s position and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Others, like civic activist Bishop Boyde Singletary, dismissed the incident as harmless fun that got carried away.
“What happened yesterday was the kids having fun. The kids should be allowed to have fun, the kids should not be arrested for throwing snowballs,” Singletary said.
President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association Vincent J. Vallelong charged that the “assault,” could snowball from there.
“While some people may attempt to dismiss this incident as college hijinks or harmless kids throwing snowballs, the deliberate targeting of uniformed Police Officers by hurling objects at them while they perform their lawful duties constitutes an assault,” Vallelong said. “Today it is snowballs. Tomorrow it could be rocks, bottles, or worse.”
The images of the additional individuals wanted for the incidents show one male wearing a black jacket, black sweatpants, and black shoes, and the other donning a black ski mask, black jacket, black pants, and tan boots.
Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
