NYPD officer slashed in Brooklyn confrontation leaves hospital

BRIGHTON BEACH (WABC) -- A New York City transit police officer who was stabbed while confronting a suspect in Brooklyn Thursday was released from the hospital Friday.

Hospital workers and fellow police officers applauded as a grateful Officer Filippo Gugliara, 24, was escorted out of NYU Lutheran Hospital almost exactly 24 hours after he was slashed in the neck after coming to the aid of a 78-year-old woman who was being assaulted on Coney Island.

"He heard the cries of the elderly woman, he went to the scene and confronted the perpetrator and thank God, the officer came out OK," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The incident happened outside a subway station in Brighton Beach.

The 11-inch kitchen knife that police say 58-year-old Oleg Tcherniak used to attack Gugliara was found at the scene, and surveillance video shows Tcherniak running from authorities after the assault, with officers on his tail. But Gugliara caught up, and cell phone video shows the last moments before Tcherniak pulled the knife and struggled with Gugliara. After being stabbed, the officer drew his gun and fired two shots, striking the suspect in the chest.

"We heard three shots, boom, boom, boom," a witness said.

The wound to the officer's neck was not serious, maybe because the knife caught the shoulder strap on the officer's body armor first.

"If that had penetrated the officer's neck, it would be a very different story we're telling," NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said.

Gugliara was not seriously hurt and will return to active duty.