Police Officer Dennis Guerra’s four devastated children sought strength in one another as their dad’s flag-draped coffin was led from a packed Queens church on Monday.
Zachary Guerra, 7, stood as stiff as a drill sergeant as he said a final goodbye to his father, who just two weeks ago taught him how to ride a bike.
The boy’s sister, Kathleen, 20, stood behind him and wept on their mother Cathy’s shoulder.
Their brother, Jonathan, 17 — grief etched in his face — held tight to sister, Alyssa, 14.
“You were my friend and true confidant,” Curtis Mitchell, who is married to Guerra’s sister, told mourners during the solemn service at St. Rose of Lima Church in Rockaway Beach.
“I could speak with about anything. You deeply touched the lives of many, including mine because of your big heart and the kind of person you were.”
Last week, the 38-year-old father of four died from smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning after he and his partner, Rosa Rodriguez, rushed to a fire allegedly set by a “bored” teen in a Coney Island high-rise.
Rodriguez, 32, who also has four children, remains hospitalized in critical condition. Accused arsonist Marcell Dockery, 16, is charged with murder.
Outside the Beach 84th Street church Monday, thousands of police officers lined up for nearly a mile to salute their fallen brother.
Guerra was remembered as a brave cop, loyal husband, devoted father and dependable friend.
Whether he was bringing blankets to neighbors after Hurricane Sandy or clearing snow from their driveways, Guerra spent every day of his short life putting others before himself.
“Duty came first. It always did with Dennis,” Mayor de Blasio said. “It came first last July when he pulled off the Belt Parkway and rescued a little boy from a car that was on fire, just before an overheated tire exploded.
“And duty also came first eight days ago, when without a heartbeat’s hesitation he and officer Rosa Rodriguez did what so many wouldn’t have the courage to do.”
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton reminded mourners that Guerra was the son of a cop. He said Guerra would often text the father, asking for advice about how to handle a situation on the street or in the precinct.
“His father always trusted his son’s judgment,” Bratton said. “He would say, `Go with your gut. You’ll do the right thing for all the right reasons.’”
Accused arsonist Marcell Dockery, 16, is charged with murder for setting the fire that resulted in Guerra’s death.
At the St. Rose of Lima parish school next door, boys and girls Zachary’s age stared solemnly out the windows at cops from all over the city and suburbs lined 10 deep in the street where school buses pick the students up every day.
The blue-suited officers stood at crisp attention, their white gloves saluting in uniform when the casket was carried by.
Even with mourners lined in each direction, it was still quiet enough to hear the flags blowing in the wind and the seagulls flying above the parked cars.
A bugle playing taps pierced the silence. Bagpipes played “America, the Beautiful.”
“Everyone of us in this crowd feels it because under these circumstances it could be any one of us,” said one firefighter who stood in the crowd. “When you see that hearse go by your lips just start to quiver. “
Bratton said Guerra would be promoted posthumously to detective, first grade.
“Dennis gave it all — all the time,” Bratton said. “He was a cop’s son and a cop’s cop.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Kevin Sheehan
