By Police1 Staff

NEW YORK — A rookie NYPD officer was met with applause by fellow officers as he made a step toward recovery following a hatchet attack last week.

CBS New York reports 25-year-old Officer Kenneth Healey left the hospital Wednesday with a bandaged head and right hand to transfer to a rehabilitation center for more treatment.

Officer Healey was one of two rookie officers injured after 32-year-old Zale Thompson charged a group of four officers with a hatchet last Thursday. Healey was struck in the head and another officer was slashed in the arm before Thompson was shot to death by police.

Healey suffered a skull fracture in the incident, according to Newsday.

“After running into the emergency room thinking we were going to lose one of our own, today we are on the outside of the emergency room and that police officer walks into an ambulance,” Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, told the NY Daily News.