Rookie cop attacked by alleged Islamic extremist with machete near Times Square

(NY Post) A rookie NYPD police officer on his first day on the job was attacked with a machete on New Year’s Eve just blocks [from] Times Square — and police are probing whether the suspect is a recently radicalized Islamic extremist, according to police sources.

The officer — who graduated Friday and was assigned to a Staten Island precinct but was working the New Year’s Eve detail for the night — was stationed at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue when the machete-wielding madman approached him and two other officers around 9:30 p.m., NYPD sources told the Post.

The post was outside the area attendees were being screened for weapons, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference early Sunday.

(Text updated)

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