Manhattan man charged with stabbing off-duty NYPD officer in Lindenhurst

A Manhattan man faces multiple charges after he stabbed an off-duty NYPD officer from Long Island who stopped him from stealing items from a parked vehicle in Lindenhurst early Thursday, Suffolk County police said.

According to Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner Kevin Catalina, the 28-year-old officer returned home from work Wednesday evening along with his brother. Both are anti-crime NYPD officers who work in Queens South, Catalina said at a news conference Thursday.

Around 1 a.m., Catalina said, they were awoken by lights outside their home. "They got up and saw a man who appeared to be breaking into cars. He had a mask on."

The suspect — who police identified as Royal Hooks, 27, of Pearl Street in the Two Bridges section of lower Manhattan —  was observed getting into a parked vehicle in a driveway on 40th Street near Buffalo Avenue, Suffolk police said.

Catalina said the off-duty officers went outside to confront him and he ran. When they caught up with him, they identified themselves as police officers, Catalina said, but Hooks "pulled out a knife and said, 'I am going to stab you.'”

The officers attempted to take the knife away, but Hooks stabbed one of them in the left leg, according to police.

"He stabbed him in the thigh," Catalina said. "Thankfully, it was not a life-threatening wound.”

Catalina said the officer's brother applied a tourniquet, and the injured officer was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital, where he was to be treated for a serious but non-life-threatening injury.

The NYPD officers held Hooks until Suffolk's First Precinct officers arrived and arrested him, police said.

Hooks pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault, aggravated assault upon a police officer or peace officer and petit larceny before Judge Evan Zuckerman during his arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on Thursday, according to court documents. Zuckerman ordered Hooks held on $100,000 cash bail, $200,000 insured bond or $1 million partially secured surety bond. The Suffolk County Legal Aid Society represented Hooks during his arraignment.

Hooks is scheduled to return to court on Tuesday, Tania Lopez, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, told Newsday via email.

Newsday's Michael O'Keeffe contributed to this story.