Police Officer Stabbed in Head Promoted to Detective

DOWNTOWN — The officer who was nearly killed last April when he was stabbed in the head by an emotionally disturbed man in East Harlem received a standing ovation while he was promoted to detective during a ceremony Friday at police headquarters.

Eder Loor, 29, and his partner Luckson Merisme responded to a call of a person behaving erratically at the Franklin Plaza complex on Third Avenue on April 17. They were met outside the building by a woman who said her son was bipolar and was "behaving erratically," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during the ceremony.

The officers entered the building, where they ran into the man, 26-year-oldTerrance Hale.

Loor and his partner tried to get Hale to wait for medical attention, but he wouldn't listen and walked out of the building.

"Concerned that the man might pose a danger to the public the officers attempted to prevent him from leaving," Kelly said. "Without any warning, he plunged a three-and-a-half-inch knife into officer Loor's left temple, penetrating his skull."

Loor, who is also a trained medical technician, pulled the knife out himself and then flagged down an ambulance.

"He was brought to the hospital in critical condition and underwent extensive surgery," Kelly said. "Doctors determined that the blade had nicked Officer Loor's middle cerebral artery, which is severed would have been fatal. It also stopped within an inch of the temporal lobe that controls speech and a half-inch from an area that handles motor function. He was incredibly lucky."

He was out of the hospital just two weeks later and returned home to his wife and then 4-year-old daughter.

Loor walked slowly but unassisted across the stage to receive his promotion from Kelly, while more than 100 officers and family members clapped.

"Officer Loor continues to undergo rehabilitation for his injury," Kelly said. "His survival has been called a miracle. We know that it is due most of all to his remarkable strength and fortitude."

Hale is facing attempted murder charges and is due back in court on March 14.

By DNAinfo