The NYPD cop who cheated death after he was shot in the base of the skull last night while chasing a murder suspect through a Brooklyn housing project is conscious and talking.

Officer Kevin Brennan, 29, was recovering at Bellevue Hospital after being shot at during a confrontation around 9 p.m. at the Bushwick Houses.
“It’s a dangerous job,” said relative Anthony Masi. “He’s the greatest guy in the world.”

Masi said Brennan, who lives in Garden City Park, LI, was conscious and talking.

“Heard he’s talking. The wife’s with him now,” he said.

At an event this morning, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Brennan is slowly recovering, calling it “a miracle.”

“I visited him this morning. He is in and out of consciousness, mostly because of the morphine he’s been given. It really is a miracle,” he said.

Kelly said they have video of the shooting.

“We saw film of this event this morning. We saw where the gun was held right up to the officer’s head,” he said.

A miracle is exactly what Brennan’s landlady said took place.

The incident unfolded when cops saw three men running out of a building on Moore Street and began chasing them, Kelly said.

Luis “Baby” Ortiz, 21, who previously had been arrested by one of the responding officers, ran into the lobby of 370 Bushwick Ave., and Brennan followed.

Cops later said Ortiz has been arrested 14 previous times and was under investigation for a New Year’s Day murder.

READ MORE: NY POST