'By Grace Of God' Stabbed LI Officers Will Go Home To Their Families: Commissioner

STONY BROOK, NY — The 26-year-old Suffolk police officer who was seriously injured by a suspect in Medford is on life support at Stony Brook University Hospital but will live, and the second injured officer will be released Friday, police said.

The officer has four years on the job, and he and his wife are expecting their first child, police said, adding that the second officer is 28 years old, with 11 months on the job, and is expected to be released from the hospital Friday.

The pair are both U.S. Army veterans who served in Afghanistan, police said.

A third officer was treated for tinnitus and released from the hospital, according to police.

Enrique Lopez, 56, of Medford, has been identified as the man who was shot and killed, police said late Thursday. His name was initially withheld pending the notification of his family.

Police said he spent two years in jail for a 2011 arrest for assaulting an officer.

He stabbed the two in a struggle at about 5 p.m. at an apartment on Birchwood Road in Medford and was shot and pronounced dead at the scene, 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 at a news conference Thursday.

Harrison said that the man was 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. 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.

Chief of the Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care Dr. James Vosswinkel said that the officer with life-threatening injuries was stabbed in the neck without about an inch and a half wound that was four inches into his upper chest.

The knife lacerated a large blood vessel going into the officer's heart, Vosswinkel said.

"If it wasn't for the treatment at the scene by his fellow officers, his sergeant, as well as our medical staff, or EMTs, he wouldn't have lived," he said. "The other officer is extremely lucky."

Harrison not only commended Stony Brook's staff but 6th Precinct Sgt. David Zirkel and Coram Fire District Ambulance paramedics Brian Romaner and Michael Grasso for their efforts.

In the struggle, one of the officers fired four rounds, striking the man in his upper torso, Harrison said.

He used the scenario to drive home the danger of police work, telling reporters, "This is a very dangerous job."

"Officers never know what they are going to face when they get the 911 call," he said. "By the grace of God, these officers are going to go home to their loved ones."

Homicide Squad detectives are investigating, which is a standard procedure for officer-involved shootings.

Suffolk's Police Benevolent Association released a statement on Facebook, saying its members are thankful the two officers are in stable condition.

"We are incredibly grateful for the outstanding care provided by Dr. Vosswinkel and the staff at Stony Brook University Medical Center," the statement read. "We ask that all Long Islanders keep our Officers in their thoughts and prayers, and God willing, they will make a full recovery from the horrific incident that took place earlier today."

In a statement to media, Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon said the thoughts of his department's members are with the officers who were injured.

"This a reminder that the brave men and women in law enforcement put their lives on the line every day," he said, adding that the sheriff’s office "stands" with that of the police department "and their families during this time.”