By Jonathan Allen and Maria Tsvetkova
NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The New York Police Department is investigating a boisterous snowball fight in a Manhattan park after several officers were hit in the face, dividing the mayor and other city leaders on Tuesday over whether the throwers should be reminded to show a little respect or arrested and prosecuted.
A video of snow-splattered officers being pelted by a jeering crowd of New Yorkers was shared widely on social media on Monday, prompting debate
over whether anyone who walks into a public snowball fight is fair game or if some participants had crossed a line and assaulted police officers.
Within hours, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the video showed criminal assault on uniformed officers. The next day, her boss Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly said he saw only kids throwing snowballs with too little regard or respect for the police on a day when school was canceled.
In her statement, Tisch said the video showed "individuals attacking cops" in Washington Square Park and that detectives were investigating.
"The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal," she said. Her department and the mayor said two of the officers had "lacerations" to their face or neck from the snowballs, and police said they were taken to a nearby hospital in "stable condition."
Mamdani was repeatedly asked at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon if he agreed with his police commissioner that a crime had been committed, but he declined to say, only repeating his assertion that the videos showed "kids at a snowball fight." He praised police officers for helping keep New Yorkers safe during and after Monday's paralyzing blizzard, and urged people to not throw snowballs at them.
"They and our entire city workforce deserve to be treated with respect," the mayor told reporters. "The only person in our city's workforce who deserves to be treated with a snowball is me."
With a snow day declared and schools and roads closed, many New Yorkers descended on Washington Square Park on Monday afternoon to revel in some 20 inches of snow, the second major snowstorm Mamdani has faced since taking office on Jan. 1.
Around 4 p.m., several officers responded to a 911 call about a disorderly group in the park. One of the most widely shared videos shows officers walking through a noisy crowd being pelted with snow before pushing at least two people to the ground. One of the officers appears to have been hit in the eye, leaving it reddened.
No arrests have been made as of Tuesday afternoon, police said.
At his press conference to discuss the city's response to the blizzard, the mayor was asked if he thought Tisch and others calling for people to be arrested were "overreacting."
"I think it was a snowball fight," he said. "I'll leave it to others to share their opinions, but I've shared mine."
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen and Maria Tsvetkova in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
