QUEENS — A rookie police officer who suffered a skull fracture after he was hit in the head with a hatchet last October, in what police called a terrorist attack, recently underwent skull reconstruction surgery, authorities said.
Kenneth Healey, 24, who was struck in the head on Oct. 23, underwent the procedure on Jan. 23 at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, Long Island, said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, commanding officer of the 103rd Precinct, at a community council meeting Tuesday night.
The procedure, his second, lasted about 3 hours and was “hopefully his final surgery," said Cappelmann, adding that Healey recuperated so well that last Saturday he was able to participate in an event organized in his honor in Long Beach, Long Island.
Healey was among four rookie officers posing for a photo on Jamaica Avenue near 162nd Street, when they were attacked by Zale Thompson, 32, who police said was inspired by radical Islamic groups.
Thompson wounded Healey in the head and hit another officer, Joseph Meeker, 25, in the right arm. He was later shot to death.
Healey, of Oceanside, Long Island, had his first surgery at Jamaica Hospital on the day of the attack.
He was later taken to a rehabilitation center in Nassau County, and allowed to return home in November, before undergoing another surgery in January.
Cappelmann praised Healey's dedication and perseverance, saying that he "is exactly the type of person we want to be a police officer.”
He said that after his surgery in October, the first question Healey asked after waking up was whether his partners were OK and if he can “be a police officer again.”
Cappelmann said that Healey still faces a long road to recovery and has difficulty moving his left arm, but overall "he is doing a lot better.”
He is expected to make a full recovery.
