Exclusive | Influencer who pelted NYPD cops with snowballs lands equivalent of parking ticket: Weak justice
His case melted away nearly as quickly as his snowball.A wannabe social-media influencer arrested for hurling a snowball at an NYPD officer in Washington Square Park will have his criminal record scrubbed if he does 20 hours of community service, according to a plea deal hashed out Friday.Gusmane Coulibaly, 28, pled down to a harassment “violation” – the legal equivalent of a parking ticket – after the NYPD initially tried to have him charged him with felony assault for hitting an officer in the face with the frozen blob during the viral February fracas in Manhattan.The charge will be wiped from Coulibaly’s record if he completes 20 hours of community service for the Parks Department, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which said in court that the outcome was “appropriate and consistent with this defendant’s conduct that day.”The plea deal comes months after a concerned bystander called 911 while watching a massive snowball fight break out during an epic blizzard Feb.23.
Video of the scene showed several arriving cops being pelted with snowballs.Coulibaly was arrested days later after the NYPD circulated photos of him in the media.The “3rd Annual Sidetalk Snowball Fight” appears to have been organized by the chaotic New York City-based Instagram show Sidetalk and was also advertised by other social-media accounts.NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch slammed the snowball throwers as “disgraceful” and “criminal” in a statement afterward, while the Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest union repping NYPD cops, blasted the icy episode as a “despicable attack” on police.Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged the public not to hurl snow at police but was accused of downplaying the incident by calling it “kids throwing snowballs at NYPD officers.”“Treat them with respect.
If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me,” Hizzoner wrote on X, a response that critics called flippant.Coulibaly “regrets his de...