NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer on an anti-looting patrol was ambushed Wednesday in Brooklyn by a man who walked up behind him and stabbed him in the neck, police said, setting off a struggle in which the assailant was shot and two other officers suffered gunshot injuries to their hands.
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The bloodshed happened just before midnight in the hours after an 8 p.m. curfew that was intended to quell days of unrest over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
All three injured officers were expected to recover. The man who attacked them was shot multiple times and was hospitalized in critical condition, said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
“What we know at this point and time is that it appears to be a completely, cowardly, despicable, unprovoked attack on a defenseless police officer and thank God we aren’t planning a funeral right now,” Shea said.
He noted that it was one of several attacks on police officers in recent days, including one in which a driver plowed into a police sergeant who was trying to stop looting in the Bronx and a lieutenant who was struck in the helmet by a brick during a brawl with protesters in Manhattan.
New York City has been roiled by days of protests over police brutality, and the spot in Brooklyn where Wednesday night’s attack took place is just a block away from where demonstrators and police engaged days ago in an hours-long standoff, during which a police car was burned and protesters beaten with batons.
There were peaceful marches and protests throughout the day Wednesday, but police moved in to break them up when the city’s curfew took effect at 8 p.m.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who appeared with Shea outside the hospital where the officers were being treated, called it a “very tough night” and lauded the officers for their bravery.
Some details of how the attack unfolded were still unclear, but Shea said the man casually approached two officers stationed in the area to prevent looting at around 11:45 a.m. and stabbed one of them.
Officers a short distance away heard gunshots, rushed to the scene and saw the man with a gun in his hand, believed to have been taken from one of the officers, Shea said. The responding officers then opened fire.
The commissioner said 22 shell casings were recovered. He didn’t say whether the officers’ hand wounds came from the guns of fellow officers.
Shea didn’t speculate on the motive of the stabber, who was not identified, but Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch blamed anti-police rhetoric during the protests.
“Are we surprised? Are we surprised we’re here in the hospital again. Did we doubt because of the rhetoric we’re hearing, the anti-police rhetoric that’s storming our streets, are we surprised that we got this call? I’m not. We said it’s going to happen,” he said.
Shoot to kill any looters . Call in the National guard. These animals won’t stab a tank.
We should probably ban all protests for now till they learn how to do it peacefully . Yes that’s life the few rotten fruits ruin the whole thing . Keep your people in control.
You need to make a lo pelug. Just like social gatherings and minyan we say that even at a gathering where everyone abides by the rules and there is no danger , we still say you can’t do it . Why ? Because the masses won’t all abide by the rules . They will make a minyan and not safely social distance . So the few rotten fruit ruin it for us . Same is true with protests . Since some can’t protest safely no one can lest it get out of hand . This is what anyone with brains says
I openly ask the media to corroborate something stated by Rudy Guiliani earlier this week. He said that the Mayor had been calling police commanders at various precincts asking them to limit arrests at the riots and to stand back. If this is true, we have identified an impeachable crime, with the leadership hampering the efforts of law enforcement to do its job of protecting us.
Yes, I detest everything about De Blasio. He has been a disgrace for 6 years, doing untold damage to the city, and particularly to the Jewish residents. I have found him to be a liar, a cheat, and someone who worships his liberal idiocies with far more intensity than he takes in his job to protect us.
The Mayor of New York City is responsible for this hate crime. He has and continues to seed hatred between African-Americans and law enforcement. DeBlasio is constantly using inflammatory language when speaking to riled up crowds of angry blacks. He insinuates that the cause of all their hardships in life is due to the fault of police officers. Very dangerous words. Not too far away from this scene, officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were murdered by a black, Ismaaiyl Brinsley in 2014. Bill DeBlasio’s hate speech against NYPD cops led directly to that murder. How this Mayor is not arrested and thrown in prison is beyond me. The absolute corrupt do-nothing City Council is responsible for this Mayor. The only thing they’ve done is raised the tolls on our bridges, tunnels, and busses.
The cops should refuse to report to work, as they’ve done with riots in the past, as well as with work slowdowns in the past. Then, the National Guard will be forced to come in, and maintain order.
Preliminary police reports say suspect is WHITE, likely East European, with NO ties to the current protests over the police murder of George Floyd. FBI looking at foreign terror links to suspect.
Most of the police in NY and elsewhere in the country are Heroes, risking their life for others. They have been Talmidim of Aaron, Ohaiv Shalom v’rodef Sholam, Ohaiv es Habrieos….