'No Funeral': Suffolk PBA Prez Knew Prayers Happened For Injured Police Officer

STONY BROOK, NY — The 26-year-old Suffolk police officer critically injured in a stabbing last month was feted Friday by throngs of friends and supporters as he was released from Stony Brook University Hospital on Friday, police said.

Sixth Precinct Officer Raymond Stock was wheeled out by fellow Officer Brendon Gallagher, who was also stabbed in the Dec. 28 fatal confrontation. Gallagher and another officer were released last week, but Stock had been on a ventilator. He was upgraded from fair to good condition on Monday.

Suffolk Police Benevolent Association President Noel DiGerolamo thanked the public for reaching out immediately after the stabbing when the leadership requested "thoughts and prayers" for the officers injured "in this horrific incident."

He knew the prayers "were happening," DiGerolamo said.

"I know God heard them because we did not attend a funeral last week," he said. "We're here today to celebrate."

Enrique Lopez, 56, of Medford who previously spent two years in jail for a 2011 arrest for assaulting an officer, stabbed the two in a struggle at about at an apartment on Birchwood Road in Medford and he was shot dead, police said.

The 911 call about the fight was placed by a caseworker who was checking on two apartment residents, and one had been violent toward the other, Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.

Lopez had been irrational and threatening "residential patients" with a fire extinguisher, adding that the officers had to walk up a flight of stairs to approach him inside a room, Harrison said. When they asked how he was feeling, he pulled out a "Rambo-style knife" and lunged at them and they "repeatedly" asked him to drop the weapon, according to Harrison.

One of the officers was stabbed in the clavicle, neck, and groin, while the other was stabbed in the chest and the knife struck a rib, Harrison said.

There was "an ideal, comprehensive, and expedient chain of events that occurred" to save Stock's life, said police surgeon Dr. Robert Vossvinkel, adding, "I don't want to all minimize what happened to Brendan."

County Executive Steve Bellone called it a great day for Suffolk today because Officer Stock was going home to his family.

Harrison shared similar sentiment, offering that the two officers were stabbed and "within inches" they could have lost their lives. "These officers are absolute heroes; angels in blue, phenomenal workers protecting this county," he added.