An NYPD cop killed in a fiery hit-and-run crash on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was a “real-life hero” who barely survived another motorcycle crash years earlier, his longtime friend told the Daily News.

Officer Jay Pena, 30, died after a box truck driver struck his motorcycle near the Atlantic Ave. exit in Cobble Hill Wednesday morning. Pena was thrown from his motorcycle, which kept on going down the highway, slamming into a wall and exploding into flames.

“He was amazing. He was the best and he was literally a real-life hero,’” Samantha Batsikas said of her childhood friend. “It was that shiny bright personality that said, ‘I’m here and that means peace is here.'”

Pena, a four-year NYPD veteran , was off duty riding his Yamaha motorcycle home from work in the 84th Precinct in

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