Noel Polanco was promoted to sergeant today in Corona, Queens. (Facebook)
The Army National Guardsman killed by a cop during a traffic stop on the Grand Central Parkway last week was posthumously awarded the rank of sergeant at a packed Queens memorial service today before his burial.
Several hundred mourners attended the tearful service for Noel Polanco, 22, at the Eternal Love Baptist Church in Corona, where his coffin was draped with the American flag.
“I want my brother to rest in peace, but I know along with peace, you have to have justice as well,” said Polanco’s oldest brother, Army Sgt. Jonathan Polanco, to the crowd, which included several dozen of his brother’s fellow guardsmen.
Noel Polanco’s comrades gave him a 21-gun salute as a taps were later played at his funeral service and burial at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens.
Noel’s mother, Cecilia Reyes, broke down as she knelt over the plot after the guardsmen handed her the folded flag.
“My baby! I miss my baby. I’m not going to see him anymore,” she wailed. “I just want my baby! That’s all I want! Oh my God!”
Relatives had to pull her away from the grave.
NYPD Detective Hassan Hamdy shot and killed Polanco after pulling him over near Laguardia Airport last Friday for driving erratically. The cop said Polanco made a sudden move that prompted the shooting, but a passenger in the car disputed that claim.
Polanco’s broken-hearted mother wept openly at the memorial service and briefly collapsed onto a friend.
“I’m going to miss him with all my heart. I’m always going miss him, and I’m never going to see him again, but I know I will meet him again,” said Reyes, as she gazed at his coffin and added, “I love you Noel.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton gave a fiery sermon.
“When you saw him as a suspect, well, he was a soldier,” he said. “When you saw him as a gang member, well, his gang was the U.S. Army.”