Cop proves a true hero for sick city kids

BATMAN came to Gotham.

A Texas cop who spends his vacations visiting cancer-stricken children dressed as superheroes touched down in lower Manhattan Wednesday for a whirlwind stop at Police Headquarters, one day after cheering up a sick boy in the Bronx.

Police Officer Damon Cole didn’t get a chance to meet the Commissioner (James O’Neill, not Gordon), but the Fort Worth cop did see the NYPD’s Joint Operations Center and other specialized units, snapping photos with his brothers in blue.

Then, with a flap of his cape, Cole was off again to the Bronx home of a 7-year-old boy suffering from cancer. On Tuesday, he had visited sick children at Montefiore Medical Center.

“It’s my way of making a difference,” the big-hearted cop said. “Most of us, unless we are directly affected, don’t know that childhood cancer exists. I know that if it was my child, I would want someone to make them happy.”

Cole has used his vacation days throughout his career to visit 18 states. Before the end of the summer he’ll visit hospitals in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.; Virginia, and South Carolina.

At each visit, he gives the struggling children wristbands he claims have superpowers — as long as they don’t give up their fight against cancer.

“They can’t give up. . . that’s what it’s all about,” said Cole, who once stopped a Walmart shoplifter while dressed as Batman.

The perp was trying to steal a DVD of “The Lego Batman Movie.”