Northeast
Maine man sentenced to 27 years in prison in New Year's Eve machete attack near Times Square
A Maine man who admitted trying to kill three police officers with a machete in a terrorist attack near New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve 16 months ago was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Thursday in a courtroom packed with officers.
The sentencing of Trevor Bickford in Manhattan federal court came after Judge P. Kevin Castel listened to emotional statements from the three police officers who Bickford attacked about two hours before midnight on Dec. 21, 2022, as the officers screened New Year’s revelers at the sole entrance to an otherwise closed-off Times Square.
MAINE ‘JIHADIST’ PLEADS GUILTY TO NEW YEAR’S EVE 2022 MACHETE ATTACK NEAR TIMES SQUARE
Bickford shouted “Allahu akbar” — the Arabic phrase for “God is great” — before striking the officers in the head with the machete and trying to grab an officer’s gun. One officer suffered a fractured skull.
A machete which was used to wound 3 NY police officers in an attack at Times Square in New York on January 01, 2023. (NYPD/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The threat ended when Officer Michael Hanna shot Bickford in the shoulder. At a hospital, Bickford told authorities that he had studied radical Islamic ideology and decided to wage jihad against U.S. officials.
The judge cited the 20-year-old Bickford’s age and history of mental illness as reasons for leniency from federal sentencing guidelines that recommended a life term. Prosecutors had requested a 50-year sentence while the defense recommended a 10-year term.
He also recounted how Bickford’s mother had repeatedly sought help from police and hospitals as she saw her son’s descent into mental illnesses that have been diagnosed to include schizoaffective bipolar disorder and major depression syndrome with symptoms of depression, mania and psychosis, including grandiosity and hallucinations.
The judge said Bickford told mental health professionals 20 days before the New Year’s Eve attack that he had a plan for harming others, intended to act on the plan and wanted to commit a jihadist attack.
“I’m not a medical person, not here to judge the medical people who saw this and met with him, but it’s disturbing to read these records,” Castel said. “If his mother was listened to, her instincts were listened to, if the medical profession could look at things a little differently, this might not have happened.”
Given a chance to speak, Bickford apologized to the officers he harmed and other witnesses to his crime.
“I understand that I left scars, physical and mental,” he said. “My mental illness took me down a dark path.”
Hanna, the first officer to speak at the sentencing, recalled the attack, saying he had just ducked his head slightly when he “saw a large blade swiping next to my head” and spun around to see Bickford chasing him with a machete that contained a 13-inch blade.
“As he continued to approach, I took my firearm out and discharged one bullet, which immediately struck the defendant. He dropped to the ground,” Hanna said.
The officer said his parents had immigrated from the Middle East two decades ago “to escape this type of thing.”
Officer Louis Lorio said he could barely remain conscious after a large cut to his scalp required seven stitches that night.
Now, he said, he suffers migraine headaches several days a week and is likely to be forced into retirement after a decade-long police career as he copes with anxiety and depression that cause him to “burst out crying for no reason” or cripple him with waves of sadness. Therapy, though, has helped, he added.
Officer Paul Cozzolino, who had graduated from the police academy only a day before the attack, said some physical pain such as headaches will last forever. He choked up as he said the part he will “cherish forever” was when he went home to his family that night.
Defense attorney Marisa Cabrera said her client, who is “deeply remorseful,” comes from a family with a “strong and proud military background,” including two grandparents who served in the U.S. Navy, a brother currently in the military and a younger brother who plans to join.
Bickford wanted to join the military too before psychological illnesses took over, she said.
Now, she said, “Bickford has returned to his old self with the aid of medication and treatment.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaylan Lasky, though, urged the judge to ignore Bickford’s “self-serving claims” of rehabilitation, particularly because he could return to his former state of mind if he ever went off his medication.
She said he “should not be given another opportunity to kill Americans” after he “injured, maimed and terrorized innocent New Yorkers.”
The judge ordered that after Bickford gets out of prison, authorities monitor his internet usage and other facets of his existence for the rest of his life.
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Northeast
New York AG orders Manhattan hospital to resume gender-transition treatment for transgender youth
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New York Attorney General Letitia James is instructing a Manhattan hospital to resume offering gender-transition treatment to transgender youth after it ended such treatments last month over funding threats from the Trump administration.
NYU Langone’s decision to close its Transgender Youth Health Program violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws by “jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” James wrote in a Feb. 25 letter first made public this week.
James’ office threatened “further action” if the hospital does not immediately resume offering hormone therapies, puberty blockers and other treatment to transgender youth.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is instructing a Manhattan hospital to resume offering gender-transition treatment to transgender young people. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
NYU Langone, one of the city’s largest hospital systems, said last month it would stop providing certain gender-transition treatments for patients under the age of 19.
“Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,” NYU Langone spokesman Steve Ritea said in a statement at the time. “We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change. This does not impact our pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue.”
The hospital ceased admitting new patients into its transgender youth program last year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which aims to restrict gender-transition treatment for people under 19.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced a proposal to cut federal Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide these treatments to transgender young people. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Referencing Trump’s order, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services later announced a proposal to cut federal Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide these treatments to transgender youth.
But the Feb. 25 letter signed by the attorney general’s health care bureau chief, Darsana Srinivasan, said the proposal did not officially change federal law and did not affect a “medical institution’s existing duties and obligations under New York law.”
“The sudden discontinuation of medically necessary transgender healthcare can have severe, negative health outcomes,” Srinivasan wrote. “Accordingly, the Attorney General is extremely concerned by your institution’s decision to cease the provision of care to this vulnerable, minority population.”
LETITIA JAMES SUES HHS OVER TYING FEDERAL FUNDS TO TRANSGENDER POLICY
NYU Langone said last month it would stop providing certain gender-transition treatments for patients under the age of 19. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The letter gives the hospital until March 11 to show its compliance, although it is unclear what steps would be taken if it fails to resume the treatments.
Several other hospitals across the country have also halted transgender youth treatments following Trump’s executive order and funding threats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Charlotte Hornets (31-31, ninth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Boston Celtics (41-20, second in the Eastern Conference)
Boston; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Celtics -6.5; over/under is 214.5
BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte is looking to keep its five-game win streak alive when the Hornets take on Boston.
The Celtics are 27-13 against Eastern Conference opponents. Boston is sixth in the NBA with 46.2 rebounds led by Nikola Vucevic averaging 8.8.
The Hornets are 19-21 in conference matchups. Charlotte is 7-8 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 15.0 turnovers per game.
The Celtics average 15.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.7 more made shots on average than the 12.8 per game the Hornets allow. The Hornets average 16.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.1 more made shots on average than the 13.9 per game the Celtics allow.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jaylen Brown is averaging 29 points, 7.1 rebounds and five assists for the Celtics. Payton Pritchard is averaging 17 points and 5.8 assists over the past 10 games.
Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 22.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Celtics: 8-2, averaging 109.4 points, 50.7 rebounds, 27.1 assists, 6.1 steals and 6.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 98.5 points per game.
Hornets: 7-3, averaging 117.3 points, 47.8 rebounds, 27.4 assists, 8.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 106.2 points.
INJURIES: Celtics: Jayson Tatum: out (achilles), Neemias Queta: day to day (rest).
Hornets: Coby White: day to day (injury management).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The bodies of two young girls were found inside suitcases in Cleveland, Ohio, police said on Tuesday.
In a press conference, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said on Tuesday that the bodies of the two girls were found in suitcases buried in shallow graves on Monday evening. One of the girls was believed to be between the ages of 8 and 13 years old, while the other was believed to be 10 to 14 years old. Neither girl was identified as of Tuesday night.
“This is a priority,” Todd said during Tuesday’s press conference. “This is a traumatic event for our officers, for the community, and this is just such a tragic incident, but we are trying to develop any leads we can.”
Police said there are no active missing persons reports in Cleveland that match the two victims.
Officials said someone walking their dog near East 162nd Street and Midland Avenue found what appeared to be a body inside a suitcase around 6 p.m. on Monday. When officers responded to the scene near Ginn Academy, they found one of the bodies stuffed in a suitcase in a shallow grave. The second shallow grave with the body stuffed in a suitcase was found after officers searched the area.
“This is a field close to the school over there,” Todd said. “This is just a residential neighborhood that I’m sure a lot of people do frequent.”
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office has custody of the bodies and will identify the girls. Todd said there is no clear indication of possible causes of death for the girls or how long the girls were there.
“It was some time, so it’s not something that was recent,” Todd said.
There is no suspect, Todd added. Anyone with information can contact the Cleveland police at 216-623-5464.
“Usually in residential areas, you know what’s happening in your neighborhood, something just seems a little bit off,” Todd said. “That’s why we’re asking that anyone who has anything that they believe to be information directly related to or suspicious, that they give us a call.”
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