Exclusive photos show one of the NYPD cops attacked by a machete-wielding alleged Islamic extremist on New Year’s Eve putting on a brave face Monday following his release from the hospital.

Paul Cozzolino — a rookie whose skull was fractured in the harrowing Dec. 31 attack near Times Square — grinned broadly and flashed a thumbs-up when approached by a Post photographer near his Westchester home.

The 23-year-old, who just graduated from the Police Academy on Dec. 30, walked past a parked Ossining police car and cheerily said, “Hey you!” as he looked at the camera, a day after his release from Bellevue Hospital on Sunday.

Cozzolino and Officer Louis Iorio, 33, were stationed at West 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue on Saturday night when suspect Trevor Bickford allegedly ambushed them with the 18-inch weapon. 

Iorio, an eight-year veteran who is stationed in Staten Island, suffered a gash to the head and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, cops and sources said. He was also released Sunday.

A third officer, Michael Hanna, 27, also a rookie, shot Bickford in the shoulder after he and the other cops were attacked, the sources said.

Hanna, who joined the force in April, was treated at Mount Sinai West and he too has been released. 

Bickford was arrested and taken to Bellevue for treatment, where he remained Monday, when he was charged by the NYPD with attempted murder and assault over the attack.

The officers’ post was outside the area attendees were being screened for weapons, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference early Sunday.

Sources told The Post Sunday that Bickford traveled to New York on an Amtrak train, arriving on Dec. 29, and appeared to have been a lone wolf. He had packed camping gear, a diary and a last will and testament — as well as the weapon, a type of machete known as a Gurkha, according to sources.

He allegedly told the feds after his arrest that he hatched the violent plan as recently as Friday, and made statements that he wanted to attack a uniformed officer or someone armed because they are the “enemy of the state,” according to the sources.

Bickford’s mother and aunt had notified authorities because he apparently made statements indicating a desire to go fight in Afghanistan alongside Islamic militants, landing him on the FBI’s terrorism “Guardian Watchlist,” according to the sources.

In his handwritten manifesto, Bickford urged his family to “please repent to Allah and accept Islam,” according to sources.

Sources said the teen became “radicalized” as recently as a month ago.

Published reports reveal that Bickford appeared to be a typical American teenager before he apparently “found religion” in the wake of his father’s overdose death in 2018, according to sources.