A cop critically hurt last month in a Brooklyn arson that killed her partner was released from the hospital Monday amid a sea of NYPD Blue cheers — and then had a private emotional moment when she arrived home.
NYPD Housing Officer Rosa Rodriguez silently stood in front of her Howard Beach, Queens ,house and released four multicolored balloons.
“We spoke about it a couple of days ago. I told her a lot of the balloons said, ‘Get well,’ and, ‘Feel better,’ and I told her, ‘That’s behind us. Why don’t we just release them?’ And she liked that idea,’’ said fellow Officer George Alicea.
Rodriguez told Alicea she was humbled by the turnout at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center when she was released at about noon.
Scores of uniformed cops lined both sides of the walkway outside, clapping and smiling, as she was wheeled past them, with Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton walking behind her.
Her two adorable daughters — Abby, 9, and Amy, 11 — giggled and wore police hats as they carried bouquets of flowers alongside their mom through the cheering throng.
At one point, a female cop broke from the crowd and ran to Rodriguez to give her a quick peck on the cheek and more flowers.
“I didn’t expect all this,’’ Rodriguez admitted to Alicea later.
Just before being released, the 36-year-old mother of four also got an emotional visit from slain partner Dennis Guerra’s widow, Cathy, and mother, Miriam, who both wore pins bearing his photo.
Rodriguez suffered such severe smoke inhalation in the April 6 blaze in Coney Island that she can only talk in a whisper, sources have said.
She was able to walk on her own, but only very slowly, into her home while carrying an oxygen tank.
Rodriguez and Guerra, a 38-year-old dad of four, became trapped in a smoke-filled hallway after exiting an elevator to investigate a 911 call about a possible fire.
The blaze was allegedly set by Marcell Dockery, 16, who said he lit a mattress because he was “bored.’’
Guerra died several days after the fire and Dockery, who was photographed grinning after his arrest, was charged with murder.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Jamie Schram and Kate Sheehy