The attack on Officer Eder Loor, 28, occurred at 10:30 a.m. near East 107th Street, outside the Franklin Plaza Apartments, where Mr. Hale lived with his mother, Vearry Hale, the police said.
Ms. Hale had called 911 that morning, saying her son was bipolar and had stopped taking his medications, the police said.
When Officer Loor and his partner, Luckson Merisme, arrived, they were met on the sidewalk by Ms. Hale, who said her son was in their apartment, Mr. Kelly said.
As the three walked indoors, they encountered Mr. Hale, who was coming out of the elevator in the lobby, Mr. Kelly said. Ms. Hale confronted her son, telling him he needed hospitalization, to which Mr. Hale responded, "I'll go by myself," and then walked out the door, Mr. Kelly said.
The officers quickly caught up to Mr. Hale. Standing on each side of him, they explained that they would take him to the hospital, the Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said.
Without any warning, Mr. Kelly said, Mr. Hale stabbed Officer Loor in the temple. At first, Officer Merisme thought his partner had been punched, Mr. Kelly said, only realizing what had occurred after Officer Loor cried out and blood began to run down his face.
In an interview in her apartment, Ms. Hale accused the police of irritating her son, saying the officers had pushed him against a storefront. She said Mr. Hale had punched an officer, but had not been armed, adding that she believed the police were framing him.
"The system didn't work," Ms. Hale said, "and now he's in trouble."
Ms. Hale said her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
A law enforcement official said Mr. Hale had pleaded guilty to assault in the 2006 knife attack and a 2002 assault in New York. Mr. Hale has also been arrested in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the police said.
The police had also been summoned to the family's apartment within the past two years after Mr. Hale threatened to kill himself, another law enforcement official said.
Officer Loor has spent all of his six years in the Police Department in the 23rd Precinct, which covers East Harlem, and he is a member of the Air Force National Guard.
In remarks to reporters after visiting Officer Loor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg observed that the officer's wife, Dina, was pregnant with the couple's second child.
"And she's going to have the baby at the same hospital that Officer Loor was at, so I told her they'd probably give her a special room," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Hopefully, he'll be O.K."
ORIGINAL SOURCE
Content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
No comments:
Post a Comment