The rookie cop was slashed in the head, prompting another cop to shoot the suspect. The rookie cop, identified by Mayor Eric Adams as Paul, was struck on the head, prompting another cop to shoot the suspect, striking him in the shoulder, the sources said. Paul suffered a large laceration and skull fracture, Sewell said.
One of the other cops, an eight-year veteran, was also struck on the head with the weapon and suffered a laceration.
The officer — who graduated Friday and was assigned to a Staten Island precinct but was working the New Year’s Eve detail for the night — was stationed at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue when the machete-wielding madman approached him and two other officers around 9:30 p.m., NYPD sources told The Post.
The first cop, a rookie on his first night of policing, was slashed in the head, prompting another nearby officer to shoot Bickford. That officer was also struck, but he was not seriously injured. The first officer, identified by authorities only as Paul, is expected to recover.
Police are working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate the shocking attack. A motive was not immediately clear.
“No backpacks or umbrellas in Times Square. They forgot to mention machetes,” a police source told The Post.
Sewell arrived to the hospital to visit the wounded cops shortly after they were admitted. The mayor arrived around 12:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day in an SUV covered in confetti. Earlier, Hizzoner pushed the button to start the ball drop countdown as spectators bid farewell to 2022.
Meanwhile, another cop was hit by a police car when he was trying to move the barricades on 52nd and Broadway to let responding officers get to the machete-wielding man, witnesses said.
“They moved the barricades really fast. He was a police officer in front of the barricade area and he moved it for police cars to move fast — and that’s when the barricade fell and got hit by the car. He got double whammied,” witness Kim Novack told The Post.
The cop was taken to Mount Sinai West and is expected to recover, police sources said.
The area had already been a hotspot for rowdiness. According to the New York Post, the injured police officer was a rookie on his first day on the job.
The suspect, 19-year-old Trevor Bickford of Wells, Maine, was shot in the shoulder and taken to a nearby hospital.
At least one officer fired upon the suspect, striking him in the shoulder. Police sources said the alleged attacker's injuries are also non-life-threatening. A preliminary review shows the man has no previous arrests but he was known to federal and local law enforcement because of previous online postings, the sources added.
Law enforcement officials said they are looking into whether the man who allegedly attacked the officers had previously posted what they called jihadist writings online and traveled to New York City to target police.
"We believe this was a sole individual at this time, there's nothing to suggest otherwise," said Mike Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the New York FBI Field Office. The FBI's Joint Terrorism task Force is also investigating.
The knife attack and gunfire startled a long line of crowds waiting to join the NYE celebrations. A local pizza shop employee said panicked revelers fled amid the chaos.
Police have closed down the immediate area for their investigation. The nearby New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square was not impacted.
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