Cop who took a bullet to the head walks out of hospital after surgery
An NYPD cop was released from the hospital Sunday after repair of a bullet wound to his head that occurred as he napped in his car between two New Year’s shifts in Harlem.
Officer Keith Wagenhauser, 33, was greeted with a standing ovation from dozens of colleagues, and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, as he was wheeled out of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell and then stood up to walk to a nearby NYPD van, where Mayor Adams offered him a helping hand to climb aboard.
Wagenhauser’s too-close encounter took place after he finished an eight-hour New Year’s Eve shift. The seven-year veteran and former Marine opted to sleep in his personal car in the parking lot outside the 25th Precinct stationhouse until his 7 a.m. tour Saturday, cops said.
The horrific wakeup came about 6:15 a.m., however, when Wagenhauser felt rain coming through his shattered car window — and blood dripping from his head.
The officer was taken to New York-Presbyterian where he underwent surgery to remove a bullet fragment from his fractured skull.
Police do not believe Wagenhauser was the intended target of the bullet, which likely traveled some distance before hitting the officer’s window, Sewell said Saturday. There have been no arrests.
Sewell and Adams have both vowed to get guns off city streets amid a startling rise in crime in 2021.
“We’re gonna get this shooter and we’re gonna get the shooters in our city,” Adams declared. “We’re gonna get the guns off our streets and families should not have to go through this. We want this guy caught.”
Deputy Inspector Christopher Henning, commanding officer of the 25th Precinct, described the officer’s hospital release as “a momentous occasion.”
“This is good for morale, good to see a smile on Keith’s face [and to] have him walk out with his family,” Henning said. “Lining the corridor with all the members of the 25 Precinct that he worked with ... it was a very good day for him and his family as well as us.”
“He’s been an outstanding officer for the [precinct] and for the residents of upper East Harlem,” Henning said.