An NYPD officer stabbed in the head and slashed in the neck and face while responding to a 911 call last month left the hospital Wednesday in front of a police honor guard and applauding hospital staff.
Officer Eder Loor, 28, was stabbed through the skull with a 3.5-inch blade and had bleeding on the brain when he arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital.
"I'm not 100 percent normal, but I'm just happy that I'm alive," Loor said at a news conference before leaving.
The knife, according to his doctor, went deep into Loor's temporal lobe and nicked an artery that, if it had been cut, likely would have killed him.
Loor and his wife thanked the doctors, nurses and physical therapists who have been working with him. He said he was looking forward to going home to his pregnant wife and 4-year-old daughter.
"It's her birthday," said his wife Dina, who cried earlier as she expressed her gratitude for a "second chance" with her husband. "It's all she wanted for a gift."
Dr. Joshua Bederson, professor and chair of neurosurgery at the hospital, said he was "delighted" with how the surgery turned out.
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Loor said pain still prevents him from being able to open his mouth wide. He has to eat his food in small bites.
He is also facing a long recovery in rehab for his injuries.
Loor had been responding to a 911 call by the suspect's mother, who had called police saying her son needed to go to the hospital because he was "acting in an erratic manner."
The officers were escorting the man out of the apartment building when he suddenly produced a knife and began stabbing Loor. He fled but was caught two blocks away.
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