Cops risked lives with Times Square ‘explosive’

They were ready to die to save as many lives as possible.

Two NYPD cops were patrolling Times Square when a man threw what they thought was a bomb into their van — and their first thought was to get it away from the crowds even if it meant getting blown to bits.

“We both looked at each other, and we knew exactly what the other was thinking without even having to say it,” said Officer Peter Cybulski, who was on patrol with Sgt. Hameed Armani.

“We’re not going to let this take out someone else with us, multiple casualties.”

Believing the end was near, the two cops, who were parked near the corner of West 46th Street and Seventh Avenue, started “praying,” said Armani, a 10-year NYPD veteran who immigrated from Afghanistan.

“I was nervous. [Cybulski] looked at me and said, ‘Boss, what are we doing?’ ” Armani recalled. “I said, ‘We’re driving, all right.’ Halfway through, we said our prayers to each other, and I was like, all right, if it happens, it happens. I’m not going to stop here.”

The cops, who are part of the Times Square unit, drove east to Sixth Avenue, where a bomb squad eventually determined the package was nothing but a red candle and white T-shirt wrapped in tinfoil with two solar garden lights.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called the two cops “heroes of the city” for their selfless and courageous act.

The bomb scare began an eight-hour long saga that didn’t end until nearly 8 a.m., when police tracked down the alleged package thrower, Hector Meneses, and took him into custody after a tense standoff.

Detectives located Meneses, 52, a Colombian native, in his 2008 Chrysler Aspen at around 1 a.m., and Midtown North cops pulled him over in Columbus Circle, Chief of Manhattan Detectives William Aubry said.

“I have a bomb strapped to me, and I want to die,” he allegedly told the officers.

Meneses, who was wearing a vest, put on a bright red helmet at one point and made several erratic gestures, including reaching for the glove compartment and the center console in the SUV.

“Shoot me, shoot me,” he told officers, according to a law-enforcement sources.

Cops deployed a robot with a camera and microphone, using it to bust through Meneses’ win-

DRAMA: This is the moment Hector Meneses (inset top) allegedly threw a fake bomb into a police car early Wednesday. Sgt. Hameed Armani and Officer Peter Cybulski (top, from left) daringly evacuated the device, and hours later, a robot (left) helped nab the suspect.