NEW YORK – The night was supposed to belong to the city. Instead, by 2 a.m. Sunday, Times Square looked like a dispatch from some other, darker celebration – buses burning, police in riot gear, a teenager shot once in the left foot and unable to get an ambulance because the crowd had swallowed 42nd Street whole.
The New York Police Department confirmed Sunday that ten of its officers were injured and 63 people arrested during and after the New York Knicks’ NBA championship win over the San Antonio Spurs – the franchise’s first title since 1973. One officer was punched in the face. Another was struck with a glass bottle. A 17-year-old was shot near the intersection of 43rd Street and Broadway and taken to the hospital by police car because no ambulance could push through the tens of thousands of people who had taken over the surrounding blocks.
“As the game progressed and then following the game, the crowds became increasingly destructive, and there were many incidents of incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior,” the NYPD said in a statement.
The descent was not sudden. It began around 10:30 p.m. when fans started filling the roadway on Ninth Avenue near 34th Street. Officers attempted to clear the street and found themselves in a shoving match almost immediately. The department’s Strategic Response Group arrived in full riot gear. Mounted units followed. Both were met with thrown bottles. By the early hours of Sunday morning, the NYPD’s extensive security perimeter – built around what had been anticipated as a difficult night – had not been enough.
What the police had not fully prepared for, perhaps, was the specific geography of the chaos. Times Square was not just packed with Knicks fans. It was also a transit hub that night for World Cup spectators – five school buses that had been ferrying soccer fans between Manhattan and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey were parked on the block when the disorder peaked. Fans climbed on top of them, ripped off hoods, smashed windshields, and beat them with baseball bats. At least one bus was set on fire. CBS News New York reported footage showing a bus engulfed in flames as crowds churned around it. All five buses were destroyed or severely damaged, according to police.
Several NYPD vehicles were also targeted – windows shattered by bats, officers’ cars jumped on by revelers unwilling or unable to stop. A firearm was recovered near the scene of the shooting. Three people were taken into custody in connection with it.
Police also responded to four separate stabbing or slashing incidents during the night. Charges against those arrested covered a range of conduct: assault on a police officer, illegal weapons possession, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of governmental administration.
Saturday’s disorder did not arrive without precedent or warning. After Game 4 on Wednesday, the NYPD had arrested 15 people and issued 41 criminal court summonses as fans climbed scaffolding, jumped on vehicles, and attempted to overturn a taxi. A 17-year-old – a different victim – was briefly placed in a coma after a street assault near West 35th Street and Eighth Avenue following that game, according to Gothamist. The pattern was visible before the championship was even decided.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Saturday that a ticker-tape parade will be held Thursday down the Canyon of Heroes – the city’s first Knicks championship parade in the history of the franchise. The announcement came before the night unraveled. It is not yet clear whether additional security planning for the parade has been revised in light of what happened in Times Square.
The NYPD has not said whether it considers Saturday’s response adequate, or whether the department believes the number of officers deployed – which at moments left them visibly outnumbered – was sufficient. What the department has said is that the Knicks’ celebration was not the only major event it was managing: the World Cup brought its own security demands to the metropolitan area this weekend, stretching resources that were already committed.
The city has waited 53 years for a Knicks title. Jalen Brunson’s 45-point performance in Game 5 at Frost Bank Center delivered it – an evening that will be replayed on highlight reels for decades. The aftermath, involving fires in Times Square and a police officer bleeding from a punch to the face, will also be part of the record. Whether the city can hold its parade Thursday without repeating Sunday morning’s damage is what the NYPD is now being asked to answer.
The 17-year-old who was shot – the city’s most critically endangered person on a night that was supposed to be a celebration – was taken to a hospital and was reported in stable condition. His name has not been released.
