Hundreds of New York’s Finest gathered in Queens early Saturday morning to commemorate a slain rookie cop who was ambushed and killed while sitting in his squad car there 34 years ago.
Mourners remembered Edward Byrne in a midnight ceremony on the corner of 107th Ave. and Inwood St. in South Jamaica – steps away from where he was fatally shot on Feb. 26, 1988 while guarding the house of a witness in a drug case. He was just 22.
“He didn’t ask why. He just took his assignment and understood it’s importance,” said NYPD Commanding Officer Inspector Vincent Tavalaro.
Those in attendance included family members of the hero cop, as well as NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and other top brass.
“On one hand, it’s very comforting but on the other hand, it’s a constant reminder of how difficult the job is,” Byrnes’ brother Ken Byrne said about the annual memorial.
“It’s a sober remembrance for all cops who do this job every day, one of the most difficult jobs you can ever do.”
This year, the ceremony came a month after a career criminal allegedly killed police officers Jason Rivera, 22, and Wilbert Mora, 27, during a domestic call at an apartment in East Harlem.
“Since the beginning of the year, seven New York City officers have not returned home safely, and two, detective Rivera and detective Mora, will never return again,” said Tavalaro.
Ken Byrne said the deaths of the officers was “like reliving things again.”
“I can’t imagine what those families are going through,” he told The Post after the ceremony. “I’ve been there to get that knock and it’s not a good day.”
The murder of Byrne drew national attention from President Ronald Regan and his vice president, Republican candidate George HW Bush, who carried his badge on the campaign trail and later kept it in the Oval Office, police said.
Four men were convicted in connection with the assassination.
