A veteran NYPD highway cop who was paralyzed from the waist down in 2007 while chasing a reckless motorcyclist in The Bronx was promoted Monday, along with nine other cops who also suffered life-changing injuries in the line of duty.

Keith Winchell was promoted to detective nine years after the crash, which nearly killed him and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The motorcycle cop was working at the Dominican Day Parade when he saw a man on a motorcycle doing a wheelie almost hit a pedestrian and began to chase after him.

During the pursuit, Winchell, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Air Force before joining the NYPD in 2000, was T-boned by a car rolling through an intersection near the Fordham Bridge.

“I always laugh; I say I didn’t get blown up in the desert but I get hit by a car in the Bronx,” Winchell told reporters after the promotions ceremony.

“I don’t remember anything [about the accident],” he said.

“I just remember waking up in the ambulance and seeing a white light and one of the [EMTs]. He didn’t look like Jesus, so I figured I was in an ambulance.”

Winchell said he knew he was lucky to be alive, so he spent the next couple years rehabbing at NYU’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine so he could get back to the job he loves.

“As soon as I woke up, I said I don’t want to retire,” he said. “I love the job. It’s all I’ve done my whole life, I’ve had a uniform on. I wanted to stay.”

To this day, Winchell still works at Highway 1 in The Bronx doing administrative duty, as well as in the NYPD’s employee-relations division, where he counsels other injured and traumatized cops.

He is even certified to counsel cops in Florida, where he recently started a support group for the officers who responded to the mass shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando.

“It also helps me,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for nine years. I always need somebody to talk to.”

“Just because you’re a mentor doesn’t mean you don’t have things you have to deal with, too. I don’t have all the answers.”

Despite his life-altering injury, one thing that hasn’t changed is his fierce level of independence. He uses a wheelchair without handles on the back; forcing him to fend for himself.

“I don’t have handles on the back so people can’t push me,” he said. “That’s my whole attitude. I push myself.”

Winchell said he appreciated the promotion but became emotional during the ceremony when he saw a picture of his friend and fellow cop Joseph Lemm projected on a screen along with several other recently deceased cops.

Lemm was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in December.

“It’s emotional. Here’s these guys they lost their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice. I’m still here. To me, I’m hurt but I’m still here,” he said.

Also promoted Monday were nine other cops who were severely injured in the line of duty but continued working for the NYPD, including Detective Eder Loor, who was stabbed in the head while he and his partner were trying to control an emotionally disturbed person back in 2012.

Loor was gravely injured but survived the attack. The tragedy inspired his wife Dina to become a police officer the following year.

Also promoted to the rank of detective were Scot Abrams, Carlos Olmedo, Andrew Ward, Steven Carroll, Thomas Mitchell, Elaine Mamolite, Daniel O’Sullivan and Troy Peterson.

“These 10 represent the best of the NYPD. They represent what we are all about. About commitment, about pride about professionalism,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.

“Their injuries, their commitment to duty remind us of what is the best of our profession. That commitment to serve, despite all odds, despite life changing injuries, they continue to serve.”