LOWER MANHATTAN, Mahattan (WABC) — The NYPD arrested and charged a man for his alleged role in a snowball fight that injured two NYPD officers in Washington Square Park earlier this week.
Gusmane Coulibaly, 27, was arraigned in night court on Thursday on obstructing governmental administration and harassment charges, prosecutors said.
During an arraignment, prosecutors said they can’t yet prove he caused the officer’s injuries and he was not charged with assaulting a police officer, but the investigation continues. Coulibaly pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor harassment and obstruction charges.
The judge released the 27-year-old on supervised release following the brief arraignment.
The PBA is outraged over the decision for supervised release.
“Why do they feel that that didn’t cause injury to our police officer, which he clearly has an injury below his eye, the same eye that they talked about,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.
“It didn’t look like an attack to me, what I saw in the video, it didn’t look like an attack. Did it go past jokes and fun? Was it possibly a little disrespectful to the police? Yes,” Defense attorney George Vomvolakis said.
Coulibaly hid his face from photographers as he left the 6th Precinct.
He’s the first of at least four people identified from cellphone video to face charges after Monday’s melee in Washington Square Park, where two NYPD officers were injured, and several others were covered in snow and ice.
Gov. Kathy Hochul applauded the arrest on Thursday.
“Our police officers put themselves in harm’s way every single day, and there is no circumstance where it’s okay to throw anything at a police officer. So that is appropriate,” Hochul said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has insisted he saw no evidence of a crime and that no one should face charges.
“I can just tell you from the video I saw, it looked like kids at a snowball fight,” Mamdani said.
But Coulibaly is hardly a teen and was previously arrested less than three weeks ago for an attempted robbery in the transit system, the NYPD said.
It was NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch who ordered the investigation, although it put her at odds with her boss in City Hall.
It’s a move that was praised on Thursday by the city’s police union.
“This arrest sends a clear message that assaults on police officers cannot and will not be minimized or tolerated,” said PBA President Patrick Hendry said in a statement. “There is more work to be done to hold accountable all who participated in this shameful attack.”
———-
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Copyright © 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.