According to authorities, funeral arrangements were being made on Tuesday as the city continues to suffer from the death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller by an ex-con who pulled a weapon during a regular Queens car stop.
On Monday evening, NYPD officers stood shoulder to shoulder with Diller as his body was taken from Jamaica Hospital, transported to the graveyard, and then transported to a cremation home where thousands of police officers are scheduled to pay their last respects later in the week.
” He was walked out honestly, to some tears and salutes”, Diller’s sibling- in- rules Jonathan McAuley, a other NYPD officer, posted on Facebook. What started out as a regular car cease quickly turned into a time when so many lives were turned upside down.
A young wife and a one-year-old son are left behind by Diller. McAuley posted a photo of the newborn child wearing a T- top emblazoned with the terms,” My Daddy’s life things”.
There are no terms that can adequately express how devastated we are that you have passed away,” McAuley wrote. You were a great man and a great father, whose trainers can never be filled. I promise to take your son’s care as though he were my individual.
Diller, a part of the NYPD’s , Queens South Community Response Team,  , was patrolling , Way Rockaway , with his spouse when they saw a Kia SUV idling in a vehicle prevent on Mott Ave. near Smith Place simply before 5: 50 p. m. Monday.
” To those of you out there in the streets, it can be but easy to be wrapped into the time”, Diller’s brother- in- legislation wrote to other first responders. To think that horrible things like this ca n’t happen to you. to concentrate on completing the second arrest or launching a full-fledged frantic activity. Consider those who were there to like you at those times.
The officers asked Lindy Jones, 41, and Guy Rivera, 34, to maneuver the vehicle but they refused, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
” ]Rivera] was asked to leave the car”, Kenny said at a news conference at Jamaica Hospital, where Mayor Adams announced Diller’s death. He repeatedly received a constitutional order to leave the vehicle, but he refused. He shot our agent instead of stepping out of the vehicle.
Diller, 31, was shot in the torso underneath his bullet- proof coat. Despite the man wound he” also stayed in the combat”, Kenny said.
” ]Diller ] was trying to unarm the person that had just shot him as]Diller ] was on the floor”, Kenny said. The culprit was also shot when the police officer managed to grab the gun as it hit the ground.
Diller’s companion shot Rivera once in the rear.
As Diller was taken to Jamaica Hospital and into surgery but he could n’t be saved, police closed down portions of the Van Wyck Expressway.
Diller started out with the NYPD three years ago. His family was very devastated to speak to reporters at his Massapequa Park residence on Tuesday.
Mayor Adams on Monday called Diller’s demise” a foolish act of violence”.
” We lost one of our children now and it is extremely painful”, Adams said. ” It’s incredibly painful”.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry  claimed that Diller confronted Rivera “knowing he was putting his life in danger.”
Hendry said Monday night, praising Rivera for allowing him to draw a weapon, “knowing that he had a family waiting for him at house, but he did it… to guard the people of this city.”
Why did this harsh gunman not fear to take a police commander in New York City? Hendry asked. ” These strikes on New York City police officers must stop right away”!
Rivera is expected to recover and Jones, the drivers of the SUV, was taken into custody, authorities said. A , weapon was recovered , at the field.
On Tuesday, the two gentlemen were facing costs.
Rivera has been arrested by the NYPD 21 days, including for nine crimes, police resources said.
Despite serving nearly five years in prison for drug dealing, he was released from prison in 2021, according to Department of Correction information. He was even detained for assault in 2011 and released in 2014.
Jones, who was armed, has an ongoing weapons event in Queens, documents show. Jones, 41, was hit with weapons claims in April 2023. In that case, he was expected back in court on Monday on$ 750,000 bail.
” April 2023 — less than a month, weapons cost, he’s back on the street”, Adams said. This is what you refer to as a recidivist issue rather than a murder problem. The exact bad guys abusing nice people. Less than a month, he’s back on the pavements”.
According to documents, Jones was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for allegedly attempting to kill him and rob him. He was released in 2012.
As Diller’s family tries to figure out how to go on without the youthful officer, the New York Police and Fire Widows ‘ and Children’s Benefit Fund, also known as Answer the Call, may be providing the home with$ 50, 000 to offset any immediate financial problems. The fund will also provide the family with a$ 10, 000 yearly stipend.
” We believe the best way to honor our fallen heroes is to help the families they have left behind”, Lauren Profeta, Executive Director of Answer the Call, said Tuesday.
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