A person who pleaded responsible to tried homicide and assault for a machete assault on three cops close to Instances Sq. through the 2022 New Yr’s Eve celebration was sentenced to 27 years in federal jail on Thursday.
The person, Trevor Bickford, 20, had pushed to New York Metropolis from Maine two days earlier than to hold out the assault “within the identify of jihad” after watching movies on-line that radicalized him, the authorities mentioned. Mr. Bickford pleaded responsible to a few counts of tried homicide of regulation enforcement officers and three counts of assault of regulation enforcement officers for attacking the three New York Metropolis cops with a machete.
One officer suffered a fractured cranium, and one other shot Mr. Bickford within the shoulder.
Mr. Bickford, a Maine resident on the time of the assault, advised the courtroom that he was sorry when he pleaded responsible in January and once more earlier than his sentence was introduced.
He advised the decide, P. Kevin Castel, on Thursday that he understood that it was “a tall order” asking for the forgiveness of the cops he attacked, in addition to that of their households.
Mr. Bickford, wearing a tan collared button-down shirt and tan pants, was led into the courtroom along with his arms cuffed behind his again. As he walked to the protection desk, he glanced on the full courtroom, the place his household sat within the second row.
Throughout the aisle, the three officers who have been attacked — Mickel Hanna, Paul Cozzolino and Louis Iorio have been seated within the entrance row. Their supporters, greater than two dozen individuals carrying Police Benevolent Affiliation pins, have been seated all through the courtroom.
In an announcement launched after the sentencing, Damian Williams, the U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, mentioned Mr. Bickford was “impressed by radical Islamic extremism.”
“Trevor Bickford brutally attacked three N.Y.P.D. officers who have been simply doing their jobs by defending the general public through the Instances Sq. New Yr’s Eve festivities,” he mentioned.
Mr. Bickford can also be dealing with state fees of first-degree tried homicide and tried assault stemming from the assault. A trial date has not been set in that case, based on a spokeswoman with the Manhattan district legal professional’s workplace.
Exterior the courthouse on Thursday, Patrick Hendry, president of the cops’ union, mentioned that he was glad Mr. Bickford can be spending years in jail.
“But it surely’s not sufficient time,” he mentioned. “This was a brazen, deliberate assault not solely on our cops, however the coronary heart of our metropolis.”
It was shortly after 10 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2022, when, with out provocation, Mr. Bickford started swinging a machete on the officers, the authorities mentioned. The assault occurred close to the nook of Eighth Avenue and West 52nd Avenue, simply outdoors the safety screening space that the police had established for the celebrations, the authorities mentioned on the time.
In a sequence of emotional testimonies, the three officers detailed the moments of the assault and the lasting impact it has had on them.
Officer Iorio mentioned a gash on his head the place Mr. Bickford struck him with the machete left him combating to stay acutely aware and in want of seven stitches. Now, his accidents have “changed into situations in my physique and thoughts,” he advised the courtroom.
Common bouts with migraines, a continuing ringing in his proper ear and the “anxiousness and despair” he now struggles with have been fixed reminders of the assault, he mentioned. Mr. Iorio goes via the method of being surveyed out of the Police Division, successfully a “pressured retirement,” he mentioned.
Officer Hanna mentioned the assault — which occurred two months after he graduated from the police academy — has been traumatizing for his household.
“My mother and father immigrated from the Center East to flee this actual factor over 20 years in the past,” he mentioned.
Patrolling on New Yr’s Eve was Officer Cozzolino’s first day on the job.
“It is going to be with me without end,” he advised the courtroom.
In a pre-sentencing letter to the courtroom, Mr. Bickford wrote that he grew to become depressed after his mother and father’ separation and his father’s demise in 2018. Within the months that adopted, he drank and smoked and “misplaced all hope of constructing something of myself,” he wrote. Mr. Bickford mentioned he was additionally listening to voices on the time and examine completely different religions, finally getting deeper and deeper into fringe ideologies.
Within the time since his arrest, the psychological well being remedy he has gotten, together with the medicines he has been prescribed, have helped him, Mr. Bickford mentioned in his letter.
In a letter of assist, Mr. Bickford’s mom described the efforts she made to get him assist as soon as she realized he was struggling along with his psychological well being.
She mentioned she went to the police in Maine in an effort to “blue paper” him, a technique of involuntary dedication for an individual deemed a risk to themselves or others, however was not profitable. Mr. Bickford additionally went via psychological well being screenings — by no less than 4 docs, she mentioned — to no avail.
“I attempted you recognize, I attempted so very laborious to get him to obtain assist and remedy,” she wrote to Choose Castel. “I knew one thing was not OK with my youngster and nobody would take heed to me.”
Had authorities and docs listened to Mr. Bickford’s mom, “perhaps this wouldn’t have occurred,” Choose Castel mentioned earlier than imposing the sentence, including that it was “disturbing” to learn via Mr. Bickford’s medical data and the main points of the efforts his household made to get him assist.
