Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office has declined to pursue felony assault charges against a YouTuber with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly hurled snow and ice at New York City police officers, sending several to the hospital.
According to The Post Millennial, 27-year-old Gusmane Coulibaly was initially arrested on charges including assault on a police officer, obstruction of governmental administration, and disorderly conduct after a mob attacked NYPD officers with packed snow and ice earlier in the week. When Coulibaly was arraigned on Thursday, however, Braggs office opted not to proceed with the assault-on-an-officer count, a decision that immediately drew criticism from law enforcement advocates already wary of the DAs soft-on-crime reputation.
The remaining counts against Coulibaly were reduced to harassment and obstruction of governmental administration as a second-degree violation and misdemeanor, the New York Post reported. For many New Yorkers already frustrated with rising disorder and lenient prosecution, the downgrades reinforced the perception that the justice system now prioritizes offenders over public safety and the rule of law.
In the aftermath of the incident, NYC Councilman Zohran Mamdani attempted to downplay the violence, characterizing the mob of assailants as mere kids and describing the confrontation as a snowball fight. His remarks were swiftly condemned by the police union, which argued that such rhetoric trivializes real danger faced by officers and emboldens those who target law enforcement.
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, rejected efforts to sanitize what happened. He stated that the incident was an attack on the uniform these police officers wear every day," and emphasized that This was a grown adult that was here. 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."
Hendry further alleged that Coulibaly and three still-unidentified suspects had packed rocks into their snowballs before throwing them at officers. So why wasnt assault charged? Why was harassment charged? Why do they feel that that didnt cause an injury to a police officer, which he clearly, clearly has an injury below his eye?" he asked, underscoring the unions frustration with Braggs office.
One officer struck in the face reported tenderness and pain near his left eye, yet prosecutors argued it would be difficult to prove that the injury was obtained directly from the defendant." That standard, critics contend, reflects a prosecutorial mindset more concerned with avoiding courtroom risk than with defending officers tasked with maintaining order in increasingly hostile environments.
Coulibaly was granted supervised release while awaiting trial on the downgraded charges, despite his existing legal troubles. He is scheduled to appear in court on March 15 in connection with an alleged attempted robbery on the subway, and is due back before a judge on April 9 over the snowball assault case, a timeline that will test whether New Yorks justice system still has the will to deter attacks on law enforcement.
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