NYC Knicks celebration turns into chaos with multiple arrests, bus burning
New York City’s celebration of the Knicks’ NBA championship turned into chaos, with Chanley Painter reporting multiple arrests, stabbings and five school buses being burned. The NYPD brought out riot police and police horses to control the growing unrest after the historic victory.
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The New York Knicks may have won the NBA championship, but Judge Adam Levy said the celebrations went too far when the city descended into chaos and violence.
Some Knicks fans in New York City reacted to their team’s win by setting school buses on fire, climbing scaffolding, light poles and statues, and becoming violent. Witnesses reported a shooting in Times Square that the NYPD told Fox News Digital left a 17-year-old injured.
The New York Police Department also had its hands full a few nights earlier, when the Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. They arrested several people on charges stemming from a wild viewing party in Bryant Park.
Levy, who is the son of Judge Judith Sheindlin, who will soon star in the new show “Adam’s Law,” said that enough is enough, and said that law-abiding citizens were the most affected in this Saturday’s tragedy.
NEW NEW NEW TIMES SQUARE AS KNICKS GAME QUESTIONS TURNED INTO CHAOS
NYPD officers tell fans to leave after the New York Knicks won Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs outside Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 4, 2026. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
“Well, I was going to focus on the thousands of fans who celebrated peacefully,” Levy told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “So the majority of people who went to see a game in New York City when the Knicks won were peaceful. They celebrated. And that’s the way it should be. They took pictures, hugged strangers, and went home. They were raised to understand the difference between celebration and destruction. A minority, a very small number of people, are the ones the NYPD should focus on prosecuting.”
63 people were arrested in this incident on Saturday. Levy hoped they would face swift justice.
“And of those 63, prosecutors should focus on repeat offenders to dedicate their resources,” he said. “There shouldn’t be anyone right now – none of the 63 should be walking away with a slap on the wrist.”
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Thousands of New York Knicks fans gathered inside and outside Madison Square Garden and celebrated across New York City after the Knicks’ NBA Finals Game 2 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on June 5, 2026. Many fans were arrested for climbing light poles and other buildings during the celebrations. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Levy said there are many things that could have contributed to lawlessness, starting at home.
“I say that the fish stinks from head to bottom and when I say that it is not one group, it is not one fish,” he said. “You have parents who are failing their children. You have schools that have failed children and you have a government that has failed – when I say children, I mean riots – and the government has failed. It’s a trifecta, that parents for whatever reason fail to teach good behavior at home, responsibility at home. Schools focus on other things than reinforcing that. And the government certainly has a responsibility to put citizens’ lives at risk safely and securely. to enforce and prosecute those who break the law and the results are exactly what you see with these 63 nutballs.”
Levy, a former district attorney in New York’s Putnam County, has extensive experience with criminals.
“For 12 years I protected knuckleheads in this way,” he said. “And for 13 years, I prosecuted them. So I know the difference between the stupid kids who are violent, and the ones who really need a quick kick in the -. And who needs the weight of the criminal justice system weighing on them. So, don’t be hardened criminals. It’s not rocket science.”
Levy warned that the figures of the authorities must remember to lay down the law and not worry too much about the coolness or possible collapse of doing their job properly.
“And when you have people in charge – when you have parents and school staff and government officials who want to be a friend of a child, who are afraid of being called names, you know, by members of the public who have a negative view of parenting and schooling and teaching and the government’s responsibility to protect law-abiding citizens. It’s not, and he refuses to make excuses for children. ‘It’s not their fault, it’s their place. It’s not their fault, they grew up hard. It’s not their fault.’ It has to stop.”
Judge Adam Levy in “Adam’s Law.” (Important)
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Levy’s mother, who starred on “Judge Judy” for 25 seasons, had similar advice for parents in a 2024 Fox News Digital interview.
“Sometimes parents get into trouble when they say, ‘we just want to be friends’,” she said. “But children need rules, just like adults do. I mean, the country is in the situation it is in now because the rules are becoming vague.”
“And if you don’t do that, this is the result,” Levy said of those likely to escape the burden of the Big Apple. “I mean, when I think about all the tens of thousands of people who behaved themselves, who came from the same backgrounds as these criminals, like these knuckleheads, who were arrested. How come 99.9% of all the other people out there were able to follow the law, were able to celebrate in peace, but these people don’t? And by sending others the wrong message to them… to see how they were treated and behave the same way again, you know, they’re going to do the same thing at the next celebration.
And the next celebration is already here. Thursday marks the Knicks’ victory parade through New York City, prompting Levy to pause that the scenes will be similar to Saturday.
“I am worried about the people who go down there, law-abiding people who want to go down with their families and children, to celebrate the victory of their team,” he said. “Because the ones who are put at risk are the parents who reject the parent, the schools who don’t want to teach, and the government officials who don’t want people to be held accountable if they break the law. That’s the problem.”
He said politicians rarely face chaos.
“Government officials, they don’t stand in the crowd,” he said. “Government officials are good, they are different, they have gone well towards higher positions. They will not be hit on the head with a bottle. They will not be stabbed by a madman. They will not have their bags stolen because they are safe.”
“Include politicians and ordinary people, force them to meet, force them to feel unsafe,” he continued. “Forcing them to think twice about bringing their children, they are afraid that their children will be trampled, burned, stabbed, shot. Because that will never happen when the politicians will change. Every politician has a plan, until he is punched or his child is hit in the face.”
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Levy’s new show “Adam’s Law,” from CBS Media Ventures, will premiere nationally on Sept. 14. The show is produced by Judy Sheindlin’s Queen Bee Productions. Levy previously starred in Amazon’s reality court show “Tribunal Justice.”
Hannah Panreck of Fox News contributed to this report.
