Man shot by cops after meat cleaver attack over parking boot
A driver got so furious when his car got slapped with a boot outside Penn Station that he attacked cops with a meat cleaver, and officers fired 18 shots at the maniac to stop his rampage, cops said.
Off-duty detective Brian O’Donnell, who jumped in to help stop Akram Judeh, 32, was struck in the face with the 11-inch blade and suffered a gash from his left temple down to his throat, said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
Judeh — a career criminal — was left splayed out on the street in a giant pool of blood on West 32nd Street and Broadway.
The mayhem started when Judeh discovered the loathesome boot on his white Nissan Altima, which he had parked on West 30th Street and Broadway. Cops said he lives in the car.
As Judeh tried to remove the clamp, officers approached his car and tried to talk to him.
“The man was standing by a car trying to get the boot off and cops came over to help,” recalled witness Eleazar Palafox.
That’s when Judeh pulled out his cleaver and started swinging, law enforcement sources said. He then ran toward Seventh Avenue.
“You have a character running down the street waving a meat cleaver. Despite that the officers approached him,” Bratton said.
When he refused to drop the weapon, a sergeant hit him with a Taser — but Judah continued running westbound.
Near Seventh Avenue, Judeh climbed on top of an NYPD squad car, but was tackled by the off-duty officer O’Donnell, who suffered a six-inch gash during the attack.
The cop was taken to Bellevue, where he had surgery on Thursday evening, along with another officer who was grazed by a bullet. Judah was also taken to the medical center in critical condition.
Witnesses described a scene of utter chaos, as panicked people ran through the street.
“I saw a mob of people running for their lives screaming coming from the street and I let in as many people as I could and locked the door and tried to keep as many people safe as possible,” Leroy Kelly, a 54-year-old security guard inside Manhattan Mall said.
“I’m a little traumatized, I’m just trying to do my job and make people safe.
Judah has a history of rage for police officers. In 2013, he was arrested and charged with criminal mischief for smashing a car with a wooden fence post.
“I thought it was a detective’s car,” he told cops at this arrest.
Additional reporting by Sophia Rosenbaum
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