Vid shows cop pulled gun only after Lt. was attacked

A cop caught on video being struck in the back of the head with a brick — sparking a scene that led to another officer drawing his weapon and aiming it at protesters — was an NYPD lieutenant who could have lost his life if he was not wearing his helmet, union officials said Tuesday.

“If he wasn’t wearing a helmet, he’d be dead or paralyzed,” Lou Turco, the head of the NYPD’s Lieutenant’s Benevolent Association told the Daily News, showing a photo of the cop’s dented helmet. “He’s very lucky. The guy came up behind him and threw it at his head on purpose.”

A recording of the apparently unprovoked attack shows someone storming up behind the white-shirted lieutenant on Broadway at W. 12th St., just south of Union Square, at about 10 p.m. Sunday, striking him in the back of the head and knocking him to the ground.

In the bedlam that followed, another officer wearing a helmet was recorded pulling his firearm and began pointing it at the protesters around him, but was quickly pulled away by the superior.

The video of the cop pulling his gun was posted online first, drawing immediate condemnation from Mayor de Blasio Monday morning.

“To me, seeing that video, was absolutely unacceptable,” de Blasio said.

On Monday night, the Police Benevolent Association released the clip of the lieutenant getting struck with a brick, which they claim preceded the other incident.

“Now we have the full story: this police officer unholstered his weapon only after his supervisor was nearly killed with a brick. #FactsMatter,” the PBA’s tweet reads.