Huffpost Crime

New York photographer Dominick Williams was walking down the street in Queens last Thursday afternoon when he spotted four NYPD rookie officers joking around on patrol. Williams snapped a slice-of-life photo.

“I saw these cops just chillin’,” the 21-year-old told The Huffington Post. “And I asked them if I could capture the moment.”

The officers obliged, kidding him not to blast the photos all over social media. Williams took a photo, then another. Before he could take a third, a hatchet-wielding man — identified as 32-year-old Zale Thompson — ran at the cops, swinging his weapon wildly.