9 hours ago
2
The mourning mom of slain NYPD hero cop Jonathan Diller glared at her son’s accused killer in a Queens courtroom Tuesday — but the thug didn’t have the guts to look her in the face.
Guy Rivera, 35 — who allegedly fatally gunned down the 31-year-old officer and married dad during a 2024 car check in Queens — wore a surgical mask and crouched down for the procedural hearing, refusing to face mom Fran Diller, who had dozens of New York’s Finest there supporting her.
Rivera even had to be told repeatedly to pull down his face mask so witnesses on the stand could identify him.
The hearing was part of a “Dunaway” proceeding before a murder trial that establishes whether police had probable cause to approach and arrest a defendant.
As part of Tuesday’s hearing, three NYPD cops testified about a troubling incident after Rivera was shot and wounded in the fatal confrontation outside a T-Mobile store and taken to the hospital — with a 4-inch shiv in his rectum.
“I was guarding the prisoner at Jamaica Hospital,” Officer Hector Lugo recalled. “A female doctor came up to me in the hallway and said she had seen something in his x-rays. There was something in his rectum.
“The door to his room was open,” Lugo said. “It looked like [Rivera] was trying to take out the object. I said, ‘Calm down’. He said, ‘Yeah, I have another weapon up there. I don’t want to do the operation. I can get it out myself. I don’t want anyone else’s hand up there.’
” ‘I’ll shoot it out like it’s a Pop-Tart.’ “
Police have said Rivera likely hid the blade — which was wrapped in a blue balloon — in his rectum in anticipation that he might end up getting arrested that night and smuggle bring the weapon into jail with him. Law-enforcement sources have said they believe he and a cohort planned to rob the cell-phone store.
Diller, who was posthumously promoted to detective, had been on duty in Far Rockway when he spotted River and alleged accomplice and driver Lindy Jones suspiciously sitting in a parked Kia Soul outside the store and went over to question them.
Rivera refused to cooperate with the cop, and when Diller finally got the door open, the career criminal allegedly opened fire, striking the married father of a 1-year-old boy and mortally wounding him.
“I’m shot!” Diller is heard screaming on disturbing bodycam footage as he writhed in pain.
Rivera was shot and wounded as Diller’s partner returned fire.
“The suspect was shot,” FDNY paramedic Jonthan Billian testified Tuesday. “An officer was holding him up. I cut off his jacket and his shirt. He had an ID card in his wallet. It was Guy Rivera.”
Billian said Rivera appeared drunk and had liquor bottles falling out of his coat.
Rivera and co-defendant Lindy Jones are both charged in Diller’s death.
Diller’s mom has been in court two dozen times to face Rivera since his arrest.
NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said outside the courtroom Tuesday, “Our criminal justice system is broken.
“It needs to change, it needs to hold criminals accountable,” he said.
“They had multiple firearms, they were drinking, they were in a car, they were planning their next act, they weren’t afraid to get caught,” Hendry said of the slay suspects. “They weren’t afraid to commit a crime because they thought if they did, they’d be back on the streets.
“This time they aren’t.”
The judge has yet to make a ruling on the issues brought up in the proceeding.
English (US)