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The widow of NYPD hero Jonathan Diller broke down in tears in a Queens courtroom Tuesday as prosecutors described the bullet that “ripped through” her husband when a career criminal allegedly shot him dead during a traffic stop.
Stephanie Diller also left the room before disturbing bodycam footage of the 2024 shooting was played for jurors as the murder trial of accused cop killer Guy Rivera got underway in Queens Supreme Court.
“He took out his gun and pointed it at officer Diller,” Assistant District Attorney Ken Zawistouski said of Rivera during opening statements.
“He shot officer Diller underneath his bulletproof vest, causing his intestines to be ripped through and causing his iliac artery to be severed — one of the body’s most vital arteries,” Zawistouski said, as Diller’s grieving widow began to cry uncontrollably.
“The bullet ripped through his abdomen and, in the last moments of his life, he ripped the gun from the killer’s hands.”
Rivera, a 35-year-old career criminal with nearly two dozen busts on his rap sheet, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Diller’s death in Far Rockaway on March 25, 2024.
Nearly 100 cops turned out for the first day of the trial, with New York’s Finest filling the courtroom and two overflow rooms — with Diller’s widow seated in the middle of a sea of blue.
Diller, a married father of a young child, was checking on a suspicious vehicle outside a T-Mobile store when Rivera, who was a passenger in the car, allegedly fired off three rounds and struck the veteran cop in the stomach.
Zawistouski, an assistant deputy bureau chief in the DA’s homicide division, told jurors that Rivera had two options when he was confronted by Diller.
“One, surrender his firearm peacefully and inform the officers that he was in possession of two loaded firearms — one tucked in his jacket pocket and the other in the glove compartment in front of him,” the ADA said.
“The defendant had choices. That day, he chose violence.”
The heart-wrenching bodycam clip shown in court by prosecutors depicted officers desperately trying to save the mortally wounded cop at the scene.
One of Rivera’s attorneys said during her opening statements that it was the NYPD, not her client, who was responsible for Diller’s death.
A police sergeant at the scene caused “an unintentional discharge” while pulling Rivera out of the vehicle, claimed the lawyer, Erin Darcy
Rivera, who wore a pumpkin-colored suit and an orange tie for the trial, was shot and wounded during the fatal confrontation.
In a statement before the start of the trial, NYPD PBA President Patrick Hendry said cops would continue to pack the courtroom while Rivera is on trial.
“Jonathan Diller was a talented person who could have succeeded at any profession that he would have chosen,” Hendry said. “But he knew he had a mission in life – to help people and save lives. And he did that every day as a New York City Police officer.
“Unfortunately, his family is going to have to re-live this nightmare for the next three weeks.”
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