A homeless man who attacked an NYPD detective with a meat cleaver in 2016 was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said on Thursday.
Akram Joudeh, 34, was convicted in October of all the charges against him, including second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.
Joudeh attacked off-duty Detective Brian O’Donnell after trying to remove a boot from the car he was living in, in midtown. He pulled the meat cleaver from his waistband and ran from police, but officers chased him.
Joudeh mounted the grill of a cop car and slashed O’Donnell as the detective tried to subdue him, leaving a 6-inch cut from his temple to his jaw.
Police fired 18 shots at Joudeh, striking him several times.
“Every day NYPD officers put their lives on the line to protect their fellow New Yorkers,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement on Thursday. “Off-duty Detective Brian O’Donnell embodied this principle when he courageously jumped into action, tackling a man wielding a meat cleaver among scores of midtown pedestrians. Thanks to his bravery and our prosecutors’ hard work, Mr. Joudeh will now serve a prison sentence commensurate with this intolerable violence."
