Less than two hours after a bloody attack of Orthodox Jews in Rockland County, NYPD officers had guns drawn on the suspected assailant in Harlem, a new video shows.
The footage, released by the NYPD Sunday evening, shows officers Radziwon and Mattera get out of their cruiser near W. 144th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard during a traffic stop.
With guns drawn, the officers approach the silver Nissan Sentra, which is stopped in the crosswalk, as 37-year-old Grafton Thomas slowly opens the door.
Thomas, who gets out with his hands up, is then seen being taken into custody as back-up arrives.
Cops were tipped off that Thomas could be in the city after his license plate was picked up by a scanner as he crossed the George Washington Bridge.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea praised the officers in a tweet as “calm and professional in the face of danger.”
Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, NY, is accused of storming into the basement of a rabbi’s house and stabbing five people during a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey Saturday night.
The accused assailant was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder Sunday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the attack “an act of domestic terrorism” and ordered State Police to patrol all of the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in the state.
