Cop Injured In Brownsville Shooting Released From Hospital

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — The officer put in a medically-induced coma after a Brownsville shooting that left a mentally-ill man dead was released from the hospital Monday afternoon, police said.

Hundreds of officers and city officials gathered outside Brookdale Hospital Monday afternoon to applaud Officer Lesly Lafontant on his way home, video shows.

"Officer Lafontant is owed a debt of gratitude for his unwavering service," tweeted NYPD Chief Terence Monahan. "Loud cheers for our brave officer who is going home."

LaFontant was released three days after he was hit in the head with a metal chair during a police involved shooting at the Goldmine Nail Salon on Mother Gaston Boulevard, said police.

The Brooklyn cop and his fellow 73rd Precinct officers came to the salon about 5:40 p.m. to deal with a man peeing on the salon floor whom they discovered had a warrant out for his arrest, said police.

But when they tried to lock him in handcuffs, another man rushed into the salon, sparked a violent struggle by swinging a metal chair, and was eventually tased and fatally shot by the cops, police said.

Kwesi Ashun, 33, had bipolar disorder and his family had tried to get him help through the city less than two weeks before he burst into the salon, they told the New York Post.

Dewayne Hawkes, 26, the accused urinator, was arraigned on resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing charges in Brooklyn Criminal Court and freed to a supervised release program, the Daily News reported.

The nail salon encounter was the fourth fatal NYPD-involved shooting in less than two weeks. A Bronx man was shot dead by a police officer during an attempted getaway on Oct. 17 and the night of Oct. 15 two men were shot by police in Brooklyn and The Bronx.