Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Hosts Press Conference on Wounded NYPD Officer at Jamaica Hospital, Addresses Case of Patient At Bellevue Hospital

October 23, 2014

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton: I’m joined at the podium by Mayor Bill de Blasio, District Attorney for Queens Richard Brown, Chief of Department Phil Banks. We also have the President of the PBA, Pat Lynch; Dr. Kleinman, who is our chief surgeon for the Police Department; as well as Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce.

This afternoon, at approximately 2 pm, at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 162 Street in a commercial area here in the borough of Queens, in the Jamaica area of Queens, four uniformed New York City police officers assigned to the 103 Precinct were on a foot post – adjacent foot post – when they were approached by a freelance photographer, who asked them if they might pose for a picture for him.

As the officers were standing together, in front of one of the commercial establishments on that street, a male, who has not yet been positively identified, charged at the officers with a hatchet in his hand. Unprovoked and not speaking a word, the male then swung at one of the officers with the hatchet, striking his right arm. After striking that officer, the suspect continued swinging the hatchet, striking a second officer in the head, causing him to fall to the sidewalk.

As he continued his assault, the remaining two officers then fired multiple times on the armed suspect, who fell to the ground dropping the hatchet. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 29-year-old female bystander, who was in the vicinity of the location, was accidently struck by a bullet in her lower back. She was removed here to Jamaica Hospital, where she is recovering from surgery and is in stable condition and she is here with her family.

The officer who was struck in the head with the hatchet is 25 years old and is listed in critical but stable condition at this time, and remains in surgery. The officer who was struck in the arm is 24 years old and is also being treated here at Jamaica Hospital. He is in stable condition at this time and is expected to be released shortly.

The weapon used by the perpetrator is a metal hatchet approximately 18-and-a-half inches in length. The four officers in the incident are all recent graduates of the Police Academy this past July 8, and are assigned to the 103 Precinct Partner Officer Program.

The suspect is described as a dark-skin male, approximately 32 years of age. Detectives are currently attempting to confirm his identity.

At this point, no known motive for this attack has been established. The investigation is continuing.

This is a photo of the weapon that was used in the assault – again, approximately 18-and-a-half inches long. It is a metal hatchet or axe as you might describe it.

With that, I’d like to introduce Mayor de Blasio. Sir.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Commissioner.

The commissioner and I met with the three officers, who have been treated and will be released soon, and I just want to say at the outset, I was very impressed by not only their bravery in the face of something absolutely unexpected, but the way that the two officers responded to this incident and were able to immediately stop the situation and deal with the perpetrator.

So, three rookie cops, absolutely modest about what happened today and what they did – thank God – all in good condition.

We then met with the family of the other officer who is still in surgery. It’s an extraordinary family, a close-knit family, a family with a number of police officers in it – and former police officers in it – and so the family understands how important this work is and how dangerous this work is. And we are, of course, waiting to see the results, but we are hopeful for a good result from that surgery.

But, once again, here are four rookie cops, just starting out in their career, when the absolute unexpected happened. They responded in a way that really shows the power of not only their abilities and their commitment, but their training. They responded exactly as their training dictated and ended the situation – thank God – very, very quickly.

And we just pray for the speedy recovery of each and every one of them. And we made very clear to the family members that the city of New York and the NYPD would be with them for the long haul as each of them go through their recovery.

Patrick Lynch, President, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association: This illustrates once again that at any time, any place, anywhere, a police officer could be set upon. These are police officers who were standing their post, interacting with the community, in the rain, doing their job – and something they never thought would happen, absolutely happened. Their training kicked in, they immediately responded, they took control of the situation – even though one of their partners was laying on the ground, seriously injured.

We should also remember while we’re down here trying to do a difficult job, there’s a father upstairs who’s also a police officer and family members waiting outside an operating room door, hoping they get good news when the surgery is over.

So we ask the public, we ask the citizens of this city who we work for – when they put their head down on the pillow tonight, just take a moment and think of that police officer and the family that surrounds them.

Unknown 1: We’ll take some on-topic questions at this time.

Question: You mentioned the photo. Do you think the person taking the photo had something to do with this?

Commissioner Bratton: This photo that I displayed is a police photograph of the hatchet. The photo you’re referencing – we have the gentleman who requested the photo, he is working with us as a cooperating witness. We have his camera and what photos he may have taken. He is working with us, giving us very valuable information of the events leading up to the [inaudible]. We see at this time no connectivity at all with his actions in any way, shape, or form being linked to the actions of the deceased perpetrator. 

Question: [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: The officer sustained a very serious injury to the back side of his head. And it is that injury that the surgeons are working on at the moment upstairs. And so, we – as Pat Lynch indicated – we’ll certainly be standing with the parents, praying with them, that the officer comes out of that with a successful recovery.

Question: His father is a police officer?

Commissioner Bratton: His – he comes from a police family. There’s a number of police relatives upstairs who are all police officers – that’s correct.

Question: Did he lose consciousness? Did he stay alert? [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: My understanding, from talking with the doctors, is that he remained conscious and alert – at least here at the hospital – which is – would normally be a good sign, if you will.

Question: Is there any indication if this was terrorist-related?

Commissioner Bratton: This early on, we really cannot say yes or no to that question. That’s part of the ongoing investigation. There’s nothing we know as of this time that would indicate that were the case. I think certainly the heightened concern is relative to that type of assault, based on what just happened in Canada and recent events in Israel – certainly one of the things that first comes to mind – but that’s what the investigation will attempt to determine.

Question: The woman who was shot – did she know the suspect or was she just a bystander on the street?

Commissioner Bratton: Our understanding is that she was fully a half block down the street. This is a very busy commercial area. By happenstance, it was raining – raining quite heavily, evidently – and so that the normal, very crowded streets that we would have there, were not nearly as crowded as they might normally have been.

Question: Can you say whether or not the suspect had any identification on him? Have you been able to track down anything about – ?   

Commissioner Bratton: We are working with identification that he had on him at this time in terms of trying to ascertain – was that appropriate identification for the individual we found it on – information as to where he may have lived. We’re still in the process – Chief Boyce’s detectives are working very aggressively on attempting to identify who he is, where he lived, and what his possible motive might have been.

Question: How many shots were fired and by how many officers?

Commissioner Bratton: Multiple shots. We believe at this time, based on the preliminary investigation, two of the four officers discharged their weapons during the course of trying to defend themselves and the two officers who had already been struck by the axe.

Question: [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: That’s correct. That’s based also on, as always, our preliminary investigation.

Question: [inaudible] building this happened in front of?

Commissioner Bratton: I believe it’s some form of department store – Conways, I think. It’s a commercial establishment – there’s a number of stores on that block on both sides of the street.

Question: Are you aware if the suspect said anything as he was running at them?

Commissioner Bratton: Our understanding at this stage of the investigation is that, based on the statements from the officers as well as the photographer, that nothing was said at the time of the assault. The suspect was described as having charged at the officers. We do have some video evidence of the incident and are seeking additional evidence of that type, as well as hoping to interact with and interview any additional bystanders that might have seen something that will contribute to the investigation.

Question: Can you say where the injured officers were from?

Unknown 2: We’ll get that information at DCPI [inaudible].

Mayor: Let me just take a moment now to talk about another matter – and I’m going to speak very broadly because there’s still a lot more that we want to know.

It’s been widely reported – we have a patient now at Bellevue who is being assessed for the possibility of Ebola. Tests are underway. At some point this evening – it may be very late this evening – we’ll be able to provide the public with information on the results.

The important facts to know here, without going again into too much detail – the individual in question is a doctor, has been able to work very closely with public authorities in providing information.

A very careful protocol has been in place now for weeks. This protocol was followed every step of the way, including the initial contact with the individual, the transportation to Bellevue, the protocols at Bellevue – everything has been followed very precisely – and the assessment process is underway.

So I want to commend the FDNY and EMS; I want to commend the Health Department and obviously everyone at Bellevue and HHC, because their weeks and weeks of preparation have paid off, and a very seamless operation was undertaken today.

The important thing to remember here is, until we have full information, we can’t draw conclusions. So we want to be careful not to make assumptions until all the testing is done.

I also want to emphasize, in the midst of what is obviously a crisis that causes deep concern, we’ve seen some important evidence in the last week of the capacity of modern medicine to address this crisis. Thank God the nurses who have been touched by this crisis here in the United States and in Spain are all getting better – in fact, the nurse in Spain has been declared absolutely safe at this point.

We have seen, time and again, that when a case is caught early, that a great deal can be done to resolve it. And certainly we do know for sure that if this turns out to be a case, that this was caught very early.

So, we are hopeful – regardless of the next steps, we are hopeful for a good outcome for this individual. But it’s very important for the public to know that every protocol has been followed – and our emergency personnel, our health care personnel have responded admirably in this situation. Again, at some point this evening, possibly very late in the evening, we will be able to tell you more about the patient’s status.

Unknown 3: We’ll take a few questions. Just a few.

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you say how long the patient has exhibited these symptoms and what people he has had contact with [inaudible]?

Mayor: Again, I’m going to be broad, because we’re still piecing together all the facts, but I think we can safely say it’s been a very brief period of time that the patient has had symptoms. And obviously the fact that the patient is a medical doctor makes this a particular situation where he was quite aware to quickly get in contact with the authorities upon feeling that there was a problem. Our understanding is very few people were in direct contact with him.

You use the phrase “medical detectives” – it’s trained health care professionals who are able to reconstruct – with the patient and people close to the patient – anyone who may have come in serious contact with, because, as we know, Ebola is not an airborne disease. Ebola is a disease that can only be passed by very substantial and intimate contact.

So that process is underway. But the patient is in good shape and has gone into a great deal of detail with our personnel as to his actions the last few days. So we have a lot to work with.

Peter Ragone: Let’s do one more folks.

Question: Is there a process underway to communicate with any other folks that he has been in contact with?

Mayor: Yes, absolutely – and again, I spoke to our health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, earlier. A very thorough process is underway that’s been drilled now for weeks and is now being implemented. And again, we have a patient in this case who’s being very communicative, very precise, and who has only been back a very short time and is quite clear about the individuals he had any substantial contact with. So that work is going on right now.

Peter Ragone: Thank you very much, folks.

Question: So are there any precautionary quarantines that are in place for any of those individuals while the tests – ?

Mayor: That’s being worked through right now. As everyone’s being located and communicated with and details are being determined, there will be a decision on whether a specific quarantine is needed. And again, we’ll have a lot more to say later on this evening. Thanks, everyone.