Nassau County police officer shoots knife-wielding man in the face during alleged attack in Westbury, police say
The incident happened while officers were in the area for a separate call Monday night.scene on Brush Hollow Road around 11 p.m.
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A Nassau County police officer shot a knife-wielding man in the face during an alleged attack in Westbury Monday night, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said during a press conference today.
Officers were in the area responding to a report of a man who assaulted someone with a gun.
While investigating the first call, a second 911 call came through for a different man acting irrationally, threatening to stab people.
The two officers were driving down Brush Hollow Road near Talbot Drive when they came across a man with a knife.
According to Ryder, the suspect, identified by Ryder as Adrian Thompson, 27, smashed the front passenger window by repeatedly hitting the window with his knife. The officer sitting in the front passenger seat fired several shots but missed.
Thompson went around the back of the car towards the front driver's side door, where the officer in that seat got out and shot Thompson one time in the jaw, officers said.
"They're out there looking for another subject and then this individual from this call charges them, putting their life at risk," Ryder said. "They did what they had to do to defend themselves, take the subject down and save the rest of the community."
Ryder said that Thompson was taken to Nassau University Medical Center where he spoke with investigators overnight. He is expected to recover and could be arraigned bedside as early as today.
Officials said that they had one prior run-in with Thompson, back in April of this year, for a report of someone acting irrationally.
Ryder said Thomas was a medical student at Columbia University and is suffering from depression, according to his parents. The commissioner didn't provide a motive for the alleged attack on law enforcement.
Nassau County police charged Thompson with two counts of menacing a police officer, but Ryder said he could face additional charges.
Both officers are expected to recover, Ryder said.
