Feb. 10--NEW YORK -- More than a hundred officers were on hand as hero NYPD Officer Kevin Brennan left Bellevue Hospital Friday. Brennan gingerly stepped out of a wheelchair and walked through a cheering crowd to a waiting car with his wife Janet at his side.
He was whisked away to his Long Island home with only one thought on his mind: "I'm gonna hug my daughter right now."
Once home, he held tiny newborn Maeve, who was just six weeks old when her daddy was shot in the head at point-blank range, allegedly by 21-year-old career criminal, Luis Ortiz, who's never held a job but has more than a dozen arrests and has done time for drugs.
Brennan's father stopped to thank Bellevue doctors and all of his son's co-workers who've shown an outpouring of support. "If you don't believe in miracles, I took a picture you saw my son walking out of hospital and walking into his house. That is a miracle."
Brennan left Bellevue in a Justin Tuck jersey, showing his love of his Super Bowl winning New York Giants. And Defensive Captain Tuck showed the love right back -- paying him a personal visit at his New Hyde Park home. Tuck said modestly, "I just wanted to show my support."
Dr. Ronald Simon, director of trauma at Bellevue, was the man who removed the bullet from Brennan's head when he was brought to the Emergency Room late on January 31st. "You don't get shot in the head and walk out of hospital 10 days later and don't think you're one of the luckiest people alive," said Dr. Simon.
Dr. Simon described the how Brennan's brain damage occurred, "It fractured his skull and it was indented into brain. When you get shot, the skull stops the bullet but you have a fragment that goes further in and that's more or less what happened to him."
Brennan still has some peripheral vision loss, which has already improved, and he will undergo physical therapy. It's not yet known if those brain injuries will impact his ability to return to the job.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said succinctly, "It was a miracle and the miracle continues."
Kelly was on hand to celebrate Brennan's recovery and release, and laud his incredible bravery, captured on surveillance video inside the Bushwick Houses. Kelly recounted what he's seen from his review of the tape as it captured Brennan and his alleged gunman Ortiz, "What we see in the film, he tackles this individual, who has a gun in his hand, he knew he tackled this individual, went right at him, he was shot at point blank range."
Brennan is scheduled to undergo outpatient rehab. Ortiz is being held without bail and faces a maximum of 25 years to life for attempting to kill Brennan. For police officers and many who took aided Brennan's miraculous recovery -- it's a sentence that isn't long enough.
Copyright 2012 - WPIX-TV, New York
