Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs A Maine man who attacked three New York police officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year’s Eve in 2022 was sentenced to 27 years in prison Thursday, federal prosecutors said.Trevor Bickford, who was 19 at the time, said he attacked the officers because he wanted to wage jihad, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.Three officers were injured but survived. Bickford used a machete-style knife and said “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic as he slashed at their heads, prosecutors said.The prosecutor’s office called it a “violent rampage” that was premeditated. Bickford traveled from Maine to the world-famous Times Square New Year’s Eve event to attack police, but before that immersed himself in the teachings of the Taliban and considered going overseas to support the Islamic extremist group, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.The machete used to attack three police officers on New Year’s Eve in New York.NYPD via AP file”Inspired by radical Islamic extremism, Trevor Bickford brutally attacked three NYPD officers who were just doing their jobs by protecting the public during the Times Square New Year’s Eve festivities,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.Bickford in January pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder of officers and employees of the U.S. government and persons assisting them.He has also been indicted on state counts of attempted murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism, attempted murder in the first degree, and other counts.The state case is pending. His next court date is May 22, online records show.Bickford attacked the first officer, who was 23 years old at the time, at around 10:10 p.m. that night, striking him from behind with the knife, and then attacked the other two, officials have said. The first officer attacked suffered a fractured skull.The three injured officers spoke in the Manhattan federal courtroom Thursday, including Officer Mickel Hanna, who shot Bickford once in the shoulder and ended the rampage, NBC New York reported. Hanna said that if he didn’t fire, “people could have died that night,” and that he no longer likes being in crowds, the station reported.Bickford said “I’ve left scars,” and “I hope the victims can forgive me,” according to NBC New York.Bickford’s defense attorneys argued that untreated mental illness played a significant role in the attack, and that “Mr. Bickford is ashamed and appalled by his actions in trying to kill three police officers.”Bickford was having “auditory, tactile, and visual hallucinations,” they wrote in a sentencing memorandum in which they asked for 10 years in prison.Bickford in a letter to the judge wrote that he owed an apology to the officers, everyone who witnessed the attack, and well as the United States of America. He said hallucinations caused him to go deeper into radical Islam, and that “By the time I attacked the officers, I had become someone else.”“I wish that I could take back my actions. I’m grateful for the officers’ quick thinking and actions to make sure I didn’t hurt anyone else that night,” Bickford wrote.Prosecutors asked for at least 50 years in prison, arguing that when it comes to terrorist attacks “the need for deterrence is also of critical importance here.” Sentencing guidelines allowed for 120 years, they noted.
