Mayor Adams Honors Three NYPD Officers Injured in New Year’s Eve Attack

Three officers who suffered injuries in a terror attack on New Year’s Eve received an honor from the mayor this past Wednesday, April 5th.

In a ceremony at City Hall, Mayor Eric Adams honored officers Paul Cozzolino, Mickel Hanna and Louis Iorio. The three officers were working at the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 52nd Street around 10pm on New Year’s Eve when 19-year-old Trevor Bickford attacked them with a machete-like weapon.

Bickford allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” meaning “God is the greatest” in Arabic as he wielded the weapon. The attack was stopped when one of the officers shot Bickford in the shoulder. His arraignment was delayed for a week while he recovered from his wound in the same hospital where two of the officers were admitted.

All three officers who were hospitalized after the attack, have since returned to work.

At the time of the attack, two of the officers were still rookies. Officer Hanna had been on the job less than one year; for Officer Cozzolino, who was struck in the head by the machete and suffered a fractured skull, it was his first day on patrol after graduation from the Police Academy.

“Today we are here to salute three of our police officers who displayed the professionalism that we have known to see in the men and women of the NYPD. The courage they showed on New Year’s Eve is a clear example of the courage that is showed every day,” said Mayor Adams.

Bickford was charged an with 18 count indictment including assault with attempt to murder, assault on a police officer, and terrorism charges. He was from Maine, but had become radicalized, accordding to prosecutors. He was said to be on a “no fly” list but he allegedly came the NYC by bus when prosecutors said he came to New York to wage “jihad. Hehad intended to either die in the attack or go on to wage jihad in other cities in the United States. A handwritten manifesto found among his belongings included pleas with his family to covert to Islam. “I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah,” read a portion of the note which was addressed to his mother. “And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out to the hellfire.”

Bickford, who is being held without bail, is due back in court on May 3rd.