An encounter with two violent career criminals cost a New York Police Department officer his life. Now, a wife must go on without her husband, and an infant must grow up without his father.
According to WABC-TV, a traffic stop in the borough of Queens late Monday afternoon resulted in the fatal shooting of 31-year-old NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller.
The two suspects, 34-year-old Guy Rivera and 41-year-old Lindy Jones, have a combined 35 arrests on their criminal records.
Diller, who joined the NYPD in February 2021, is survived by his wife, Stephanie. The couple lived in the Long Island village of Massapequa Park with their nearly 1-year-old son.
“Tonight this city lost a hero, a wife lost her husband, and a young child lost their father,” Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban wrote on the social media platform X.
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“We struggle to find the words to express the tragedy of losing one of our own,” Caban added. “The work that Police Officer Jonathan Diller did each day to make this city a safer place will NEVER be forgotten. Our prayers are with his family, loved ones, and brothers and sisters in blue.”
Tonight this city lost a hero, a wife lost her husband, and a young child lost their father.
We struggle to find the words to express the tragedy of losing one of our own. The work that Police Officer Jonathan Diller did each day to make this city a safer place will NEVER be… pic.twitter.com/q639gQGgoz
— Edward A. Caban (@NYPDPC) March 26, 2024
The fatal shooting occurred after Diller and another officer approached a car parked illegally at a bus stop, per WABC.
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The gunman, whom police identified as Rivera, refused to get out of the vehicle. Instead, he shot Diller, and the bullet struck the young officer just below his bullet-resistant vest. The other officer then fired at Rivera, hitting him in the back.
Witness Deon Peters described the heart-wrenching scene.
“He was moving, he was saying, ‘I’m hit, I’m hit!’ Giving location and all that,” Peters said of Diller according to the New York Post. “Like he was crying, like he was really crying.”
Diller later died at Jamaica Hospital.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters that Rivera refused multiple orders to step out of the car.
“And when the officer took him out of the car, instead of stepping out of the car, he shot our officer,” Kenny said, according to the Post.
Citing the suspects’ nearly three dozen prior arrests, New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams bemoaned the “recidivist” problem, WABC reported.
“Same bad people, doing bad things to good people, less than a year, he’s back on the streets with another gun,” Adams said. “The person had a total disregard for the safety of this city.
“I cannot say it any clearer: It is the good guys against the bad guys. And these bad guys are violent. They carry guns. And the symbol of our public safety, which is that police uniform, they have a total disregard for.”
Adams’ righteous outrage would ring truer had his own Democrat-run, soft-on-crime city and state not failed Diller and the public.
The NYPD had arrested Rivera, the alleged shooter, 21 times, including nine felonies. Since 2011, he had served a combined eight years in state prison. His convictions included assault and criminal sale of a controlled substance.
In other words, New York state allowed a violent drug dealer and repeat offender out of prison.
Guy Rivera (picture), 34, the suspect in the fatal shooting of an NYPD officer in Far Rockaway yesterday, has 21 prior arrests.
Rivera was last released from a New York prison in 2021 after serving 5 years behind bars for criminal possession of a controlled substance, according… pic.twitter.com/z80yknBfpA
— Crime In NYC (@CrimeInNYC) March 26, 2024
Jones, meanwhile, had a comparatively paltry 14 arrests. But one of those included attempted murder and robbery, for which he served 10 years in prison.
Then, in April 2023, Jones was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was out on $75,000 bail and due back in court on Monday. That arrest occurred in the same precinct as Monday’s shooting, according to the Post.
As Christians and Americans, we believe in redemption and abhor the idea of a police state.
Forgiveness, however, does not imply light punishment. Nor does it require placing the public and its law enforcement officers in harm’s way.
The officials who let Rivera and Jones out of prison will have the rest of their lives to bear the guilt.
Meanwhile, solving the problem of mass incarceration cannot involve allowing violent career criminals to walk the streets.
If our society does not demand that citizens assume the responsibility that accompanies freedom, if our broken families do not heal, and if we do not rebuild communities where people sanctify human life, then it will make no difference what else we might do instead.
