Wounded NYPD cop to be Jets' guest Sunday

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - When Ricardo Ramirez was in the hospital for two months, recovering from three gunshot wounds suffered during a battle with a suspect in Brooklyn, there was only one thing that could keep the NYPD officer upbeat.

Tuning in each Sunday to check out his beloved Jets.

"They were really boring days, and all I did was look forward to Sunday and watching football," Ramirez told Newsday Thursday. "Sunday came, it was great. I was watching the football game, and I'm telling you that's what I had going for me. Nothing else was going on.

"That kept me kind of sane. It was great."

It's about to get even better: The Islip resident and Brentwood native will be the Jets' guest at Sunday's regular-season finale against the Bills at New Meadowlands Stadium, marking his first trip to the $1.6-billion edifice. Ramirez, 29, will be on the sideline during pregame warmups, is scheduled to be acknowledged after the first quarter and is expected to watch the game with Jets owner Woody Johnson in his private box.

"We are honored to host Officer Ramirez at our game this weekend," Johnson said. "It is our small way of thanking him on behalf of the entire city for his heroic actions."

The Jets learned about Ramirez's love for the team when they saw a picture of him wearing a No. 75 Jets jersey - representing his precinct number - leaving New York University Hospital on Dec. 17. Ramirez and his two partners were on anti-crime patrol in East New York in late October when, police said, Elijah Foster-Bey fled on foot and started shooting, wounding Ramirez twice in his upper right leg and damaging the femoral artery.

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A third round hit Ramirez's bullet-proof vest, and he said he lost over two liters of blood at the scene before one of his partners sprung into action.

"The doctor said if it wasn't for him taking my belt off and putting it around my leg, I would've died right there at the scene," Ramirez said.

There's also an eerie twist to the story.

"What's funny about it, it was on a Sunday, and I was watching a Jets game and they won," Ramirez said, recalling a conversation with his wife, Ana. "I was like, 'I'm going to go do overtime.' She was like, 'No, you should stay home and watch the game. Don't go do overtime. Something is going to happen to you.' I should've listened to her. But luckily I'm alive and doing better. I'm here, and I'm going to go get to see the Jets this Sunday.

"Going from being in the hospital for two months and just dealing with everything I've dealt with - them saying amputation and I'm getting infections left and right - and now I'm getting all better and I'm going to meet the Jets. I'm psyched."