BALLSTON SPA — A Washington County man has been sentenced to 71⁄3 to 14 years in prison after admitting he slashed a police officer’s throat with a razor last fall in Saratoga Springs.

Seth Dawson, 19, of Shushan, attacked city police Officer Adam Baker, leaving him with a 5-inch-long slash to his neck.

After the sentencing Monday morning, Baker said he had nerve damage from the attack, and doctors say they don’t know if it will ever disappear.

“I’ve got a little numbness on that side of my face,” he said, adding that any touch, including water from the shower, reminds him of his injury.

In January, Dawson pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon for the incident.

Saratoga County Judge Jerry Scarano sentenced Dawson Monday morning.

Dawson was a patient who had walked away from the Four Winds Saratoga mental health facility a short time before the assault last fall on the 30-year-old Baker.

Police said the razor was the blade from a box cutter. They quoted a doctor treating Baker as saying the wound was only quarter of an inch from being a fatal cut.

The incident happened at 3 p.m. on Jefferson Street as Baker and two other police officers answered a call from Four Winds reporting that a patient had left the facility without authorization.

Police Chief Edward Moore said Dawson had his hands in his pockets, and when Baker asked him to show his hands, Dawson whipped out the razor and slashed Baker’s throat.

Baker said the incident has reminded him of his training in the police academy to be aware of safety practices when approaching every situation.

“It’s a reminder to be aware of where a person’s hands are,” he said.

Baker said a positive attitude allowed him to return to work two months after the attack and to continue to enjoy police work.

“There’s no reason to be upset over what you have no control over,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Debra Kaelin said the state Department of Correctional Services will determine at which prison Dawson will serve his sentence.

He was sentenced to 7 years on the assault charge and 21⁄3-to-7 years on the weapons possession charge. The sentences are to run consecutively.

Kaelin said Dawson’s medical records, including those from Four Winds, will follow him into the prison system.

“My understanding is, the Department of [Correctional Services] does an evaluation and there are a couple of prisons that have facilities [to deal with prisoners with mental health issues],” Kaelin said. “We certainly don’t object to that.”