The heroic MTA cop who was stabbed in the left eye by a man in Queens has been promoted to detective — but it’s still unknown whether he’ll ever regain his vision and work again.
John Barnett, who shot his attacker dead despite the blood gushing from his wound, was given the title Dec. 12, five months after the unprovoked attack outside the Jamaica LIRR station.
His proud mom, son, Zion, 13, and girlfriend attended the promotion ceremony, a rare bright spot in an agonizing waiting game.
“I’m just hoping the next surgery goes good,” said Barnett, 45, who already has undergone five operations since the attack.
Doctors have told him the retina must heal before they can decide whether to fit him with an artificial lens that might restore his vision.
“It could be a week, a month, six months [before they can tell],” he said.
For now, the injured eye can tell only light from dark.
A mentally ill Edgar Owens, whose priors included assaults on cops, swung with such force that the knife fractured Barnett’s skull.
Yet Barnett — who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and with the NYPD — managed to fire four shots, three of which hit their mark.
“He behaved with extreme valor under conditions that were horrible,” said MTA Police Benevolent Association head Michael O’Meara.