The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to charge a 27-year-old male for assaulting police officers at Washington Square Park in New York City.
Gusmane Coulibaly was arrested on Thursday after his picture was circulated on a NYPD tipline for a massive snowball skirmish that happened earlier this week. He was charged with assaulting NYPD officers.
Coulibaly, who is also supposedly an internet personality and wannabe social media influencer known as “Diaperman,” claimed the snowball fight was a prank, according to the New York Post. Notably, Coulibaly was previously arrested on Feb. 6 and charged with attempted robbery at a subway station in the Bronx in New York City.
For the attempted robbery and other related charges, Coulibaly pleaded not guilty. He was released and is due back in court on March 15 for that incident, the New York Post reported. As mentioned earlier, Bragg’s office declined to pursue charges of assaulting an officer during an arraignment on Thursday evening. Instead he was given downgraded charges of “harassment and obstruction of governmental administration as a second-degree violation and misdemeanor.”
Bragg’s decision aligned with those of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who also said he would not recommend charges be filed against anyone involved in the snowball melee at Washington Square Park during press conferences earlier in the week. When asked about the incident after video of people throwing snowballs at NYPD officers went viral, Mamdani downplayed what happened.
“So, I’ve seen videos of kids throwing snowballs at members of the NYPD in Washington Square Park,” Mamdani said on Tuesday.
He repeated his assessment when reporters again pressed him on the incident.
“From the videos that I’ve seen, it looks like a snowball fight,” Mamdani said.
Not everyone agreed with Mamdani, however, including NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch who said called the ordeal “disgraceful” and “criminal.”
“The NYPD is aware of certain videos taken earlier today in Washington Square Park showing individuals attacking cops,” Tisch said in a post on X on Monday night.
MAN WITH PRIOR RECORD ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING NYPD OFFICER IN SNOWBALL FIGHT
Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, dismissed the idea that the skirmish was just a “playful snowball fight.” He categorized it as “an attack on the uniform these police officers wear every day.”
“This was a grown adult that was here,” said Hendry, noting Coulibaly’s age of 27 is much older than anyone considered a “kid” as Mamdani claimed. “Our police officers went to this location, on the rooftop, for a disorderly group, came down, and they were surrounded by hundreds of individuals who then attacked all police officers.”
