Struck cop’s ‘hood’ luck

The NYPD cop who was dragged by a driver in Times Square was lucky the car that struck him had a sloped hood that prevented major injury, a top police official said Thursday.

“We are fortunate it is that model, because if you’re familiar with Mercedes . . . it has a sloping hood, so the officer didn’t go underneath,” Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said of the 2012 MercedesBenz C63 that hit Officer Ian Wallace, 26, Saturday night.

Arfhy Santos, 20, and William Lopez, 24, both of The Bronx, were arraigned early Friday. Both are members of a car club.

Alleged driver Santos (top inset) was charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, assault, and leaving the scene of an accident. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail.

Santos has an open drug possession charge in The Bronx, and a prior reckless endangerment conviction for driving recklessly while trying to evade cops, prosecutors said.

As he was walked out of the Midtown South station house Thursday, he said, “You got the wrong guy.”

Santos was trying to avoid the cop, not hit him, his lawyer, Paul Presti, insisted.

Lopez (bottom inset), who owns the car and was allegedly in the front passenger seat, was charged with reckless endangerment and reckless driving for a separate incident involving the vehicle a day earlier. He was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Video of the incident shows the Benz hot-rodding in Times Square before Wallace steps in front of it. The car surges, forcing him back, and briefly drags him as it peels out. “When you look at something like that . . . the smoking wheels on the car, you do that in a congested area like that, it’s dangerous,” Boyce said. “So I believe that’s why the officer jumped in front of the car to stop it.”

Boyce said investigators found the Mercedes early Thursday on a Bronx street.

“It had body damage to it. It’s out right now with a search warrant to process the car for additional evidence,” he said, adding that police believe the car was “headed to be chopped up.”