Cop Killers: Long Criminal Records; Lax Treatment by DA’s, Judges
On the evening of March 25, 2024, New York Police Department (NYPD) Officer Jonathan Diller and another officer noticed a vehicle idling in front of a bus stop in Queens. After seeing an individual suspiciously enter the vehicle, they decided to approach it. The officers questioned the individual, Guy Rivera, and his companion, and asked Rivera to exit the vehicle. When Rivera refused, the officers tried to remove him from his seat. At that point, Rivera pulled out a gun and shot Officer Diller in the stomach, just below his bulletproof vest. Although he had just been shot, Diller successfully disarmed Rivera, who was also trying to shoot Diller’s partner. In critical condition, Diller was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he died.
Rivera, the accused killer, had a lengthy criminal record prior to this tragedy. Arrested 21 previous times, mostly for drug and assault offenses, he had served two stints in prison, most recently being released in 2021. His companion, Lindy Jones, had 14 prior arrests and had served 10 years in prison, from 2003 to 2013. At the time of the shooting, he was out on bail for an April 2023 arrest for criminal possession of a firearm. New York City Mayor Eric Adams — whose own record on crime is spotty — expressed outrage that Rivera and Jones were on the streets. “April 2023. Less than a year, gun charge, he’s back on the streets,” Adams said at a press conference at Jamaica Hospital. “This is what you call not a crime problem, but a recidivist problem: same bad people doing bad things to good people. Less than a year. He’s back on the streets with another guy.”
After attending Officer Diller’s wake a few days later, former President Donald Trump also pointed out the danger of soft-on-crime policies, stating, “We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.”
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