New York police investigating after officers hit with snowballs: ‘criminal behaviour’
Multiple officers responding to a massive snowball fight were taken to hospital after what one union head called an ‘assault’
New York police are investigating after officers were pelted with snowballs while responding to a massive snowball fight at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, as a winter storm blanketed the Northeast in snow.
A video of the fracas shows two uniformed officers pacing a walkway in the park on Monday as snowballs fly at them from all directions, hitting the officers and covering them in snow.
The officers, growing visibly frustrated, shoved at least two people to the ground as snowballs continued to whizz by.
At one point, a person runs up behind an officer and mushes some snow onto his head. One of the officers can be seen rubbing his eye toward the end of the video.
In a statement on Tuesday, the New York Police Department said multiple uniformed officers were struck in the face with snowballs and were “removed by EMS in stable condition” to a nearby hospital, but did not disclose additional information on their injuries. No arrests have been made.
Jessica Tisch, the city’s police commissioner, called the behaviour “disgraceful” and “criminal” and said the department is investigating.