SHE'S OUR HERO
Suicide-shoved kid co[ for a day
The NYPD has not forgotten the miracle girl who survived her father’s suicide jump in front of a moving Bronx subway train — and after spending Friday visiting police horses and boats and being sworn in as an honorary “officer,” she won’t soon forget them, either.
“The horse and the boat!” Ferni Balbuena, 5, said of her favorite things from a day-long visit with the NYPD.
“Ella estaba divertido!” her mother Niurka Caraballo said gratefully, over and over — Spanish for, “She was amused!”
Ferni made dramatic headlines in September when her father, who had been struggling with mental illness, jumped in front of a train with her in his arms.
Somehow, she survived virtually unscathed beneath the train, despite her father’s fatal injuries.
On Friday, Ferni, who lives with her mother in The Bronx, was treated to a day of festivities courtesy of the NYPD’s “Hope Trip” program for children who have suffered traumatic incidents.
A photo tweeted by Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison shows the two smiling side by side.
“She found a few minutes to stop by my office before heading over to the Mounted Unit,” Harrison tweeted, along with the picture of Ferni wearing an adorable, pint-size NYPD-issue shirt, tie and police hat.
And the girl was still wearing her new uniform — and still smiling — back home hours later.
“I got to eat pizza,” Ferni recalled, shyly hiding behind her mom in her doorway as she spoke.
Cops introduced her to a friendly police horse, and let the girl “steer” — or at least pretend to steer — an NYPD Harbor Unit vessel, according to her mother.
“Le gustaba el uniformo,” Caraballo said — “She liked her uniform.”
Asked how her daughter is doing as she recovers from the subway tragedy, Caraballo said with assurance in her voice, “She’s doing good.”
The NYPD has also feted a good Samaritan who helped rescue Ferni.
In October, Jairo Torres — the man who jumped onto the tracks to pull Ferni out from under the train — was honored alongside the child during a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at NYPD headquarters.