New York City went through this exact nightmare a decade ago.
Bill de Blasio spent years calling the NYPD "racist" and undermining the department – and by 2014, two officers sat in their patrol car and were executed.
Now New York has a new mayor – democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who spent years demanding the NYPD be defunded and dismantled – and this week, when a mob sent two officers to the emergency room with head and face injuries, he looked America in the eye and used three words to end the conversation.
Washington Square Park Assault on Police Officer Lands Two in the Hospital
On Monday afternoon, officers responded to Washington Square Park during a historic blizzard after reports of individuals on a rooftop inside the park.
When they arrived, the crowd turned on them.
Adults – not children, not teenagers at play – began hurling chunks of ice and rocks at the officers.
Two of those officers ended up in the emergency room with lacerations to their face, head, and neck.
Videos circulating online show the officers trying to retreat to their van while the mob followed them, pelting them from behind.
When backup arrived, the crowd chased those officers down the street too.
No one was arrested.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch Calls It Criminal – Her Mayor Calls It a Snowball Fight
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch – who Mamdani himself chose to retain – watched the same videos her mayor watched.
Her conclusion was different.
"The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal," Tisch posted on social media, adding that detectives are actively investigating.
The NYPD separately posted on social media seeking tips on suspects "Wanted for ASSAULT ON A POLICE OFFICER," describing how "two uniformed police officers were inside Washington Square Park when two individuals intentionally struck the officers multiple times with snow and ice causing injury to their head, neck, and face."
Mamdani's response: "I've seen the videos of this snowball fight. It looks like a snowball fight."
When reporters asked directly whether the people responsible should face assault charges, Mamdani said: "I don't."
Police Union Calls It a Failure of Leadership – and Mamdani's Defund Police Record Makes It Worse
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry didn't mince words.
"This was not just a 'snowball fight,'" Hendry said in a statement.
"This was an assault – by adults throwing chunks of ice and rocks – that landed two police officers in the hospital with head and face injuries."
Hendry called the mayor's response a "complete failure of leadership," warning that Mamdani had "sent a disgraceful message to every police officer who serves this city, and a dangerous message to every person who might be looking to attack a police officer in the future."
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo went further, connecting the dots that Mamdani's defenders refuse to draw.
"This is disgraceful," Cuomo posted on X. "But with a mayor who has a history of calling the police 'racist, evil, wicked and corrupt,' he set the tone."
New York Has Seen This Movie Before
Here's what your friends in the media won't tell you.
This isn't a new story. This is New York City running the same failed experiment it ran under de Blasio – and getting the same results.
In 2020, after years of de Blasio's anti-cop rhetoric, NYPD officers were being stabbed, ambushed, and shot at in their patrol vehicles.
The police union declared war on de Blasio directly, telling him: "You sold the NYPD to the vile creatures, the 1% who hate cops but vote for you."
Mamdani has been in office less than two months – and he already cancelled 5,000 new officers and moved to cut the NYPD budget.
His social media pages still carry posts reading: "We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety."
On the campaign trail, he called the NYPD "wicked & corrupt" and demanded it be defunded, dismantled, and ended.
He apologized for those words when it became politically inconvenient.
Then this week, with two of his officers in the emergency room, he called their attackers kids at a snowball fight.
That apology didn't take very long to wear off.
Sources:
- Patrick Hendry, PBA Statement, Police Benevolent Association, February 24, 2026.
- "NYC Mayor Mamdani Responds After Multiple NYPD Officers Hit With Snowballs, Injured in Washington Square Park," ABC7 New York, February 24, 2026.
- "NYPD Officers Injured During Snowball Fight as City Weighs Charges," NY1, February 25, 2026.
- "Two NYC Cops Landed in Hospital With Head Injuries – Mamdani Says It Was Just a 'Snowball Fight,'" Daily Caller, February 24, 2026.
- "Mamdani's Anti-Police Rhetoric Blamed After Snowball Attack on NYPD Officers," Washington Examiner, February 24, 2026.
- "Timeline: Evolution of Mamdani's Defunding Police Rhetoric," Fox News, August 2, 2025.
- "NYC Cops 'Declaring War' on Mayor de Blasio," Fox News, February 10, 2020.
