It's one thing if they threw the snowball and ran. But they probably thought the ratio of 4 vs 1 would have the cop think twice about approaching them. Little did they know they messed with the wrong person. Not trying to justify the cop's actions but what would you do if it was you that got hit with that snowball and the culprits are just standing there waiting for your reaction?

You keep walking.

They threw a snowball, not a punch.

Either that, or I might throw a snowball back.

But this guy chose greatly escalate the level of the encounter, and the potential for violence. That is, the opposite of what we should be able to expect from our police officers.

Milk the nypd for everything they got.

its the taxpayer that gets milked.

this past winter i was in midtown around lunchtime on a saturday. some dude threw a snowball at the window of the restaurant where i was eating. the host/doorman ran outside to yell at/chase the guy, but stopped when he saw that it was kurt warner. then it was all okay and i think he might have asked for his autograph instead.

four kids throw a snowball and they get a gun drawn on them, but a grown man throws a snowball and folks ask for his autograph?

come on.

The real issue here is snowballs in the hands of children. There is absolutely no snowball control in this country, anyone can just walk onto the street and acquire one of these deadly weapons. At the very least, we need to consider making our snowballs safer, such as locking them up or equipping them with child-proof devices.

Global warming will render the art of snowball-throwing to a thing of the past. Enjoy these final seasons of snowball anarchy.

I'd like to know what Banksy thinks about this. I request that he sketch an interpretive mosaic about those who have suffered at the hands of snowball throwers.

If anyone has any doubts about corruption within the NYPD, they should read the Village Voice coverage on the NYPD tapes. I hope Gothamist does a piece on this (If they haven't already)

NYPD Tapes

Yes, that is an incredibly enlightening and important piece. A must-read.

These kids are a drain on society. Lock em up and throw away the key. The kids are menaces to the neighborhood. Who in there right mind throws a snowball at a complete stranger? idiots

Uh, it was a snowball. Not a brick, a rock or even an egg. No damage other than to the cop's pride.

Who in there right mind throws a snowball at a complete stranger?

You ain't from around these parts, are ya, pard'ner?

i agree they are nutless little pricks for throwing a snowball at someone. but since the cop is also a lying scumbag and his actions may cost us $10 mil, its hard to take the side of either party.

Well, I did for one when I was younger. You get people shouting at you, you get to run, and it's essentially innocent rebellion. You know, the kind of stuff that young people have been doing for 10,000 years.

What's your evidence that they are a drain on society? That they are black and they hang out in front of a building? You'd probably spend a lot of time outside your apartment too if you lived in a slum in the Bronx, and where are they supposed to go when there is two feet of snow making it impossible to get anywhere.

You= grumpy racist.

I didn't say anything about the race of there skin. Some kid throws a snow ball at a stranger, are they on the right path. Where I'm from, people don't do that sort of thing. Just because people have been doing it for so long, doesn't mean it's right. Also I don't understand why kids hang out on a corner, why not in there living room. It's like they were looking for trouble. I'm happy this cop pulled out his gun on these kids, hopefully next time they will think before acting like idiots.

Well it doesn't snow in Hickville, does it? Maybe this white stuff (also known as frozen rain) is something new to you.

People don't do these things where you're from? Are there any occupants where you're from?

Shut your mouth chump! If I knew you I would piss on a snowball and make you eat it you prick!

If that cop didn't have a gun he probably would have been running from a snowball like a bitch. The nypd is full of a bunch of pussies, and only pussies alike would condone their cowardly behavior..

Go back to wherever it is you're from! You might suffer an oxygen attack out here

napalm - you should have been an abortion or swallowed....