The thin blue line closed the circle.

One of the NYPD recruits who academy graduate Thursday was inspired to become a cop by a heroic officer who saved his sister from “bleeding to death” after a harrowing accident in Queens decades ago, he told The Post.

Newly appointed officer Xavier Durán, 35, was 9 years old in March 1998 when a large truck struck his family as they crossed a street in the Corona neighborhood, crushing the leg of his then-6-year-old sister Jeanette. said.

Quick-thinking cop Lino Minetto grabbed the girl and rushed her to a hospital on his lap instead of waiting for an ambulance, saving her life and forcing Duran to pay, he said.

“He showed me that one officer can change an entire family, like this gentleman did,” Durán said after the graduation ceremony in Madison Square Garden. “That’s why I want to be a police officer, because I want to do the same thing.”

Duran was one of 588 recruits, including 454 men and 134 women, who graduated from the Police Academy Thursday morning and will now wear a badge in the Big Apple.

Among the friends and family who cheered Durán on at the event was Minetto, 61, now a retired sergeant, who recalled the harrowing accident he responded to all those years ago.

“(Duran’s) sister was in the middle of the crosswalk, her leg was basically hanging from her body and she was bleeding to death, barely conscious,” said Minetto, who was the first to arrive at the scene with his partner.

“We didn’t want to wait for the ambulance, thinking I might bleed to death,” she said. “I picked her up, put her on my lap and we flew to Elmhurst Hospital. We communicated by radio and everything fell into place.”

Doctors had to amputate his leg, but he made a full recovery and soon began to improve, leaving Durán eternally grateful.

“Xavier’s family, within minutes of his arrival at the emergency room, was on their knees praying to God. I believe in prayer, faith and the great work of doctors,” Minetto said.

When asked what it meant to see Durán now join the force, Minetto said, “It breaks my heart with pride.”

“He will be an incredible police officer and will contribute to his city and the world. “He is going to be a good police officer,” he said.

During the accident, Durán and his brother were thrown under the truck, but emerged virtually unharmed.

“My brother and I ended up under the truck, we came out from below,” remembers Duram. “I didn’t know how I got there, but I was thrown at least 15 to 20 feet. I just had a couple of bruises on my leg. “We were fine.”

Investigators later discovered that the truck driver was temporarily blinded by the sun’s glare while turning at the intersection and was not criminally charged.

At Thursday’s ceremony, Mayor Eric Adams praised the NYPD’s graduating class in a speech in which he recalled his own days as a cop.

“There were good days and bad days. There were days when I saw some of the cruelest acts that man can inflict on man,” Adams said. “There were days when there was joy, when you saved someone’s life, found a lost child or treated someone who needed medical attention.”

“I didn’t know that what I learned in the police department would strengthen me throughout my life,” he said, telling the new police officers that they are fortunate to serve the Big Apple.

“We are the lucky ones. Congratulations to you,” he said.