A veteran NYPD cop made the stunning admission Friday that his partner was wrong to fatally shoot a Bronx man four years ago — only to try to walk back the comment minutes later at the duo’s internal termination trial.

Officer Herbert Davis, who’s on camera repeatedly telling his partner not to use his taser or gun during the encounter, testified that his partner made a “mistake” in opening fire on Kawaski Trawick while responding to a harassment call in the Bronx in 2019.

But after a short break, requested by the defense, Davis returned to the stand in One Police Plaza with a different tune, strongly implying the shooting happened because he feared for his life.

The unusual events in the hearing, which could lead to the firing of both officers, started with CCRB attorney Bryan Arthur grilling the cop on cross-examination — rattling off a series of problems with the officer’s actions that day.

The police watchdog prosecutor dinged the partner for failing to get more information about what the two were walking into, discussing how they’d handle the situation when they got to the door and then ignoring the department’s crisis intervention training during the encounter.

“And that was a mistake?” Arthur repeatedly asked Davis — who simply said “yes” over and over to the allegations.

Davis also criticized Thompson’s use of a Taser, which prosecutors have argued was the catalyst in the fatal shooting, saying he believed it was unnecessary because he thought he could have talked Trawick down given more time.

Even after Trawick had been Tased and jumped to his feet in an erratic manner, jumping around the apartment with a knife and stick, yelling “I’m going to kill you” and “get out” — Davis still said fatal force was not in his plans.

“At this point, he is coming towards you and you decide you are going to tase him, but before you could do that, your partner shot Mr. Trawick? And that was a mistake, correct?” the CCRB prosecutor asks.

“Yes, sir,” Davis responded.

But when Davis returned to the stand around 10 minutes later to face questions from Thompson’s lawyer, Michael Martinez, he softened his stance.

“The only thing to do in that moment, [Trawick] is within three or four feet, charging with a knife, was the discharge of a firearm? It’s fair to say that if your partner hadn’t fired, a knife could have been plunged into your neck or your partner’s neck?” Martinez asks.

“Yes,” the cop responds.

Arthur what dumbfounded by the turn of events — interrogating Davis about what had changed in the few moments since his earlier testimony.

“I thought about it that I might have made a mistake,” Davis responded, adding it was a just shooting because “he came running toward us.”

Davis’s flip-flop came Friday afternoon during the last day of a four-day trial brought by the Civilian Complaint Review Board against Davis and Thompson over the fatal incident on April 14, 2019.

Thompson was charged with using his Taser and gun improperly, trespassing and failing to get medical attention. Davis is charged with trespassing and failing to get medical attention. Both face termination.

The cops’ attorneys have argued their clients were right in their actions since Trawick had a knife and could attack at any moment. They repeatedly emphasized that the shooting was ruled just by the NYPD and both cops were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by The Bronx DA.

“At the end of this, however, it could have been avoided, Kawaski Trawick charged at my client with a knife and stick. He got within three feet of him and could have killed him. He probably would have if my client didn’t fire his gun at that moment,” Martinez said in his closing statements.

CCRB prosecutors argued that the cops couldn’t claim that they feared for their lives since they were at fault for escalating the situation by entering Trawick’s apartment and Tasing him without warning or reason.

“This is not Florida [with] stand your ground sort of laws,” CCRB attorney Andrew Applewhite said in his closing statements.

“It is clear his intent was not to harm them. It is clear that his intent was to get them out of his apartment. He just wanted to be left alone and for that, he was killed.”