The NYPD officer shot in the head while chasing a suspect last week left the hospital Friday in a wheelchair as hundreds of uniformed officers gave him a thunderous round of applause.
Kevin Brennan, 29, was smiling as he was steered through the lobby. His wife, Janet, was crying as she walked alongside him through the wall of blue.
The sound of bagpipes mingled with the applause. Brennan, who wore a New York Giants jersey, was immediately escorted into a waiting vehicle.
Later when he arrived at his Garden City home, Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck pulled up to greet him.
"I just want to show him some support," Tuck said, according to the Daily News.
Brennan said the first thing he wanted to do was "hug my daughter," two-month-old Maeve.
"I feel tired," he said outside his house, according to the News. "It feels good to be home. I just want to see my daughter."
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly says Brennan is "totally functioning" and is excited to return home.
Brennan had been recovering at Bellevue Hospital since the Jan. 31 shooting at the Bushwick Houses public housing project.
He and other officers were responding there to a call of shots fired.
When they arrived, the officers saw three suspects running from the building. Brennan followed one of the suspects into a building, where the man turned and fired a shot at the officer, striking him at the base of his skull.
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The suspect, Luis Ortiz, has been charged with attempted murder. Defense attorney Eric Poulos said there's no proof his client fired the gun.
Brennan suffered mild brain damage from the bullet. It mostly caused a loss of some peripheral vision. His doctor says that's the only obvious outward sign that Brennan was shot.
