Show Up To Honor Heroes

For his wake Thursday and his funeral Friday, the body of NYPD Officer Jason Rivera will be somewhere it should never be at 22 years old: in a coffin at the foot of the altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Rookie Rivera, a married father, and Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, were demonstrating the best of humanity Friday when they responded to a domestic disturbance call in Harlem, where they were met — and gunned down — by career criminal Lashawn McNeil.

Bodycam footage shows McNeil repeatedly shooting the two cops, even as they lay bleeding on the floor. Shot by a third cop at the scene, rookie Sumit Sulan, McNeil died from his wounds Monday.

Rivera died Friday of his wounds. Mora, shot in the head with a bullet lodged in his brain, died Tuesday, after days on life support and one final act of service: donating his organs.

As one cop told The Post, “Some lucky person got a hero’s heart today.”

It just shouldn’t be this way. Two tooyoung officers dead — and for what? Well, for pursuing their calling: working so that every one of us who walks these city streets can do so without fear.

So on Friday, let’s do what we New Yorkers do best: Show solidarity. Stand with the family of a man who perished in our service. As Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch asked last week, “send a message,” and turn out for Rivera’s funeral.

“Please join us to mourn Police Officer Jason Rivera as if he was your own flesh and blood,” Lynch requested. He and his partner “walked these city streets beside you. They shared the same dreams and the same worries that you have.

“It can’t just be us. The streets can’t just be full of New York City police officers at this funeral. The public has to come. The public

has to send a message to anyone that dares to harm a New York City police officer. Not here, not now, not today, not to us.”

Honor a life given in our defense: Well before the funeral begins at 9 a.m., help pack Fifth Avenue outside the cathedral. Let us join to surround St. Pat’s with all the honor and respect these heroes deserve.