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Two Cops Released From Hospital After Being Shot on Subway in Brooklyn

By  Trevor Kapp Aidan Gardiner and Joe Parziale | January 4, 2013 1:01pm | Updated on January 4, 2013 7:52pm

BROOKLYN —Two of the three officers shot in Thursday night's mayhem were released Friday after being treated for bullet wounds at Lutheran Medical Center.

Bagpipes played and dozens of cops cheered as officer Michael Levay was released Friday morning, and his partner, officer Lukasz Kozicki, was released a few hours later. 

Levay, 27, was shot in the back and Kozicki, 32, was shot in the legs and groin after they confronted a straphanger aboard a Manhattan-bound N train that was nearing the Fort Hamilton Parkway station, at Fort Hamilton Parkway and 62nd Street, about 7:30 p.m., according to the NYPD.

On his release from the hospital the next morning, Levay gave the jubilant crowd a thumbs-up and said simply, "Nice to be going home."

His father, Bob Levay, was overjoyed.

"I didn't get any sleep last night," the elder Levay said. "[But] right now, I feel great."

Kozicki was released later Friday. He was rolled out in a wheelchair and did not speak to the waiting crowd, cops said.

"I think he was feeling a little tired," said one officer who came to show his support for Kozicki. "It's been a long 24 hours for both of them."

On Thursday night, Levay and Kozicki, spotted a man, identified by police as 37-year-old Peter Jourdan, sit down after walking between two subway cars on the N train, police said.

The officers approached and asked Jourdan to produce identification, so he stood up. But instead of a wallet, Jourdan drew a 9mm Taurus handgun and fired at the officers, police said.

Levay was struck in the back, where he was protected by a bulletproof vest. Kozicki was shot three times, in both legs and the groin, police said.

Levay returned fire, killing Jourdan.

Police said Jourdan, who was living in a Chelsea hotel, had an extensive rap sheet, including arrests in New York for theft of service and assault and in Los Angeles for attempted robbery and criminal possession of a deadly weapon.

About an hour before the subway shootout, off-duty Officer Juan Pichardo was shot in The Bronx when two men tried to rob his family's car dealership. Unarmed, Pichardo tackled one of them and managed to keep him pinned, even after being shot in the tussle, until cops arrived. 

Pichardo was taken to Jacobi Medical Center and is expected to survive.