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Suffolk County Police officer Michael LaFauci was released from Stony Brook University Hospital on Thursday, May 18.
Video shared by the department shows the six-year veteran officer exiting the hospital in a wheelchair, flanked by his fiancé and 17-month-daughter, as dozens of officers salute and bagpipers perform "God Bless America."
The moving scene came just seven days after LaFauci was shot while surveilling a home in Coram, located on Homestead Drive near Norfleet Lane, as part of an armed robbery investigation.
The alleged gunman, 20-year-old Jennel Funderburke, of Coram, allegedly fired two shots at the officer during a foot chase, striking him in the right thigh.
Other officers had to apply a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
LaFauci underwent emergency surgery, and three days later his condition was upgraded from serious to fair.
Funderburke, an alleged member of the Bloods street gang, was arrested shortly after the shooting and has since pleaded not guilty to attempted aggravated murder and first-degree robbery.
“Mike was just doing his job,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told reporters outside the hospital Thursday. “He was trying to hold somebody responsible that committed a robbery two days before this incident.”
James Vosswinkel, a doctor at Stony Brook University Hospital, described how a 9mm hollow point bullet “that is designed to do maximum damage as it tears, rips, pulls tissue” went through LaFauci’s leg.
“And we’re discharging him today,” Vosswinkel said. “That’s a lot more than medicine can do. That’s an angel looking out for him, and not to use or understate a word, it’s miraculous.”
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone was also on hand for Thursday’s send-off, telling reporters, “One of our hero officers is coming home today, and that’s a great day for all of us in this department and all of us in this county.”
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