Penn Station Cleaver Attacker Gets 20 Years In Prison, DA Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A man who was shot by police after attacking an NYPD detective with a meat cleaver in 2016 will spend the next 20 years in prison, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., announced Thursday.

Akram Joudeh, 34, was sentenced to 20 years in state prison after being convicted in October on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, menacing a police officer and criminal weapons charges, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 15, 2016, Joudeh called the police after attempting to remove a traffic boot from his car on the corner of Broadway and West 30th Street, prosecutors said. When police arrived and attempted to arrest the man for damaging the boot, he grabbed a cleaver and attempted to run away, prosecutors said.

When off-duty detective Brian O’Donnell attempted to stop Joudeh in front of Penn Station, the man struck the cop in the head with the cleaver, prosecutors said. Police shot at Joudeh after the attack, firing 18 bullets, the New York City Police Department said at the time.

O'Donnell suffered a six-inch gash to the face from Joudeh's 11-inch cleaver, police said. The officer was hospitalized in "serious condition" at the hospital with a "very significant" head injury, outgoing NYPD Commission Bill Bratton said in 2016 at one of his last on-scene press conference as commissioner.

Joudeh survive his gunshot wounds after being taken to the hospital in "critical but stable condition," Bratton said in 2016.

"Every day NYPD officers put their lives on the line to protect their fellow New Yorkers," Vance said in a statement. "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."

Read Patch's complete coverage of the cleaver attack from 2016.

Photo by NYPD