'Full recovery' expected for NYPD officer stabbed in head

The NYPD officer stabbed in the head was "as lucky as you get," a doctor said Wednesday, after describing how the blade punctured Eder Loor's brain but wasn't life-threatening.

Loor, 28, had immediate surgery after a knife-wielding man allegedly attacked him Tuesday in East Harlem.

Dr. Joshua Bederson, a neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, said Loor "has a shot at a full recovery."

The 31/2-inch knife sliced into the cop's brain behind his eye and grazed an artery that, if severed, would have killed Loor, Bederson said.

Surgeons were able to remove a blood clot and stop the bleeding.

Loor woke up following surgery and was able to speak and move his body, although he complained of some numbness in his face.

Loor's wife, Diana, said her husband spent most of Wednesday resting.

"All he wanted was a kiss and said that he loved me," Diana Loor told reporters at a news conference, adding, "I'm very optimistic."

The couple has a 4-year-old daughter and she is pregnant with their son.

Loor, an officer since 2006, was responding to a 911 call about an emotionally disturbed man requiring hospitalization. After arriving at the apartment building, Loor and his partner offered to escort Terrence Hale, 26, to the hospital, police said.

That's when he allegedly brandished a knife and plunged it into Loor's left temple, police said.

Hale, who has at least four other prior arrests, was charged with aggravated attempted murder and also underwent a psychiatric evaluation.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Wednesday that officers are at risk when dealing with the mentally ill.

"There's no way to guarantee that people are taking their medications," Kelly said.