Gusmane Coulibaly

Introduction

Gusmane Coulibaly — the Bronx social-media content creator who posts as “Diaper Man” and was the first person arrested in the viral Washington Square Park snowball attack on NYPD officers during the February 2026 blizzard — resolved his case on October 30, 2026, by pleading down to a harassment violation, which his own coverage described as the legal equivalent of a parking ticket. Under the deal hashed out in Manhattan Criminal Court, the charge will be wiped from his record if he completes 20 hours of community service for the Parks Department, closing the most-watched case from the melee with no criminal conviction — to the open fury of the police union.

Background Information

Coulibaly, 28, built a following in the hundreds of thousands across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat filming elaborate “prank” videos, including a recurring bit in which he approaches strangers — once in a Bronx subway — claims they owe him money and films their reactions. That stunt got him arrested for attempted robbery in early February 2026, charges a judge later tossed after he maintained he was joking around for his videos. On February 23, 2026, during the aftermath of a blizzard, he joined the “3rd Annual Sidetalk Snowball Fight” in Washington Square Park, a chaotic melee promoted by the Instagram show Sidetalk that drew a massive crowd, a 911 call about a disorderly group climbing on a roof, and a heavy police response in which arriving officers were pelted with snow and ice.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pled to a violation — record to be wiped. On October 30, 2026, Coulibaly pled down to a harassment violation — a non-criminal offense — with the charge to be scrubbed from his record upon completing 20 hours of Parks Department community service. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office called the outcome “appropriate and consistent with this defendant’s conduct that day.” He was never convicted of the felony assault police originally sought.

Video of the February 23 melee showed a large crowd following officers out of the park, showering them with snowballs and jeering as they retreated to their vehicles; two officers were treated at a hospital — one for a bruised eye, one for a headache. A concerned bystander’s 911 call had brought police to the park, and after the NYPD circulated photos of suspects in the media, Coulibaly was arrested days later — taken into custody by the department’s warrant squad on February 26 and booked at the 6th Precinct, where police initially charged him with assaulting a police officer, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct.

At his February 26 arraignment — attended by about a dozen uniformed officers and union officials — Manhattan prosecutors declined to pursue the felony assault charge, telling the court that after reviewing evidence including body-worn camera footage they could not prove the officer’s injuries were caused “directly by this defendant’s conduct.” Assistant District Attorney Victoria Notaro said video showed Coulibaly throwing the snowball that struck Officer Nicholas Johnson in the face, leaving redness, tenderness and pain to his eye, head and neck, and said “we will continue to investigate.” He was arraigned on the reduced counts — misdemeanor obstructing governmental administration and a harassment violation — released on supervised release over the objections of cops packing the courtroom, and didn’t speak during the hearing.

Eight months later, the case ended the way prosecutors signaled it might: a plea to the harassment violation, 20 hours of community service with the Parks Department, and — on completion — a wiped record. Coulibaly “regrets his decision to throw a snowball at the police,” his lawyer George Vomvolakis told The Post after the plea, adding that his client’s “intention was never to be disrespectful, but he understands that what he did may have been disrespectful.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The snowball case became a citywide political flashpoint from the night of the arraignment. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the treatment of officers “disgraceful” and “criminal”; PBA President Patrick Hendry said “the notion that this was a playful snowball fight obviously is not true — this was an attack on the uniform that these police officers wear so proudly every day,” and claimed Coulibaly and three still-at-large suspects had packed rocks into their snowballs, which Vomvolakis rejected: “What I saw in the video didn’t look like an attack… Did it go a little past, you know, jokes and fun? Was it possibly a little disrespectful to the police? Yes.” Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew accusations of downplaying the melee by calling it a “snowball fight that got out of hand” that should “be treated accordingly,” and suggesting criminal charges weren’t warranted, while Gov. Kathy Hochul sided with police: “there is no circumstance where it’s okay to throw anything at a police officer.”

The October 30 plea deal reignited the fight. Hendry blasted the outcome as “weak justice,” telling The Post: “We’re not surprised that we’re getting weak justice in this case because DA Alvin Bragg and Mayor Mamdani made sure of that from the beginning,” and arguing the city’s leadership “gave this individual a free pass to keep causing chaos on our streets — and that’s exactly what he has done.” Vomvolakis had earlier framed the prosecution as politicized, telling the court at arraignment that “the police department is using this because of their dislike or disdain for the mayor… They want to pick a fight with the mayor.”

Current Status

Coulibaly, 28, walked out of the snowball case with no criminal conviction: the harassment violation will be wiped from his record if he completes the 20 community-service hours, per the October 30 plea. He remains entangled in the courts separately — the Post reported he has been arrested twice in the past year for allegedly terrorizing New Yorkers in robbery-style incidents his lawyer calls pranks, including an East Harlem case from earlier in October in which he was accused of flashing what appeared to be a gun handle while allegedly trying to rob a sidewalk vendor on East 116th Street; he pleaded not guilty there, was released on his own recognizance, and is due back in Manhattan Supreme Court on December 10. Three other suspects from the snowball melee have never been charged publicly, and Coulibaly has not commented on the plea beyond his lawyer’s statement.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The man once hunted by NYPD Crime Stoppers photos — the handout image that led to his arrest — ends the snowball saga with his brand intact and his record pending erasure, a resolution unions and police reform critics cite as emblematic of Manhattan’s prosecutorial politics. The case’s political aftershocks outlived the charges: it turned the PBA against the mayor in his first months in office, made “Diaper Man” a nationally known moniker, and left the felony-assault question the NYPD originally answered affirmatively permanently unresolved. Whether the December robbery case — which his lawyer insists is another prank — ends differently will decide whether his second year of fame looks like the first.

Sources

• NY Post, “‘Influencer’ who pelted NYPD with snowballs lands equivalent of parking ticket,” Oct 30, 2026 — source
• AP News, “NYPD arrests man after officers were pelted during snowball fight,” Feb 26, 2026 — source
• amNewYork, “Suspect in Washington Square Park snowball fight on cops released after assault charge was reduced to misdemeanor,” Feb 26, 2026 — source
• Gothamist, “Manhattan DA drops assault charge in Washington Square Park snowball fight,” Feb 26, 2026 — source