Bodycam footage caught the chilling final moments of slain NYPD cop Jonathan Diller, including how he was blasted from about 2 feet away and gasped, “I’m hit!’’ before collapsing, a police source said Tuesday.
Diller, a 31-year-old married new dad, had just finished up on another call in the area as part of a three-person NYPD Community Response Team when he spotted a Kia Soul illegally parked at a nearby bus stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, the high-ranking source said.
Diller — dressed in a modified CRT uniform of khaki pants and a blue top — went up to the passenger side of the vehicle, where hardened career criminal Guy Rivera, 34, was sitting, the source said.
The cop’s partner approached the driver’s side, where ex-con Lindy Jones, 41, was behind the wheel, the source said.
Something didn’t sit right with Diller.
How Post Readers Can Help
You can help Officer Jonathan Diller’s 1-year-old son via the Silver Shield Foundation, which will help fund his future education. Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Queens, leaving behind his wife, Stephanie, and baby Ryan.
The Silver Shield Foundation was launched in 1982 by late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for the families of NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters who lose their lives in the line of duty
You can make a contribution at silvershieldfoundation.org/donate or send it to: Silver Shield Foundation, 870 UN Plaza, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10017
“The cop had very good instincts,’’ the source said. “We believe they interrupted something, we just don’t know what. There’s something about the car sitting there that draws this cop to it.
“It’s possible they were casing somebody or something on that commercial strip,’’ the source added, noting the vehicle was parked outside a T-Mobile phone store, where video later showed it had been sitting for about 10 minutes with both men inside.
What to know about the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller:
- Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, on March 25, 2024.
- Suspect Guy Rivera allegedly opened fire on Diller on Monday evening after the cop approached the vehicle Rivera was in for parking in front of a bus stop.
- Diller was shot once in the stomach below his bulletproof vest. The married father of a 1-year-old boy was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
- Rivera was wounded when Diller’s partner returned fire. The suspect has 21 prior arrests and was found to have a shiv stored in his rectum during the shooting — in apparent anticipation of being sent to jail again.
- Lindy Jones, the ex-con behind the wheel of the car during the shooting, was also arrested after a second gun was found in his car.
- Mayor Eric Adams has renewed his calls for Albany to address criminal recidivism following the shooting involving two suspects with lengthy criminal records.
Follow The Post’s complete coverage of fallen NYPD Officer Diller’s wake
Diller and his partner, who were with their sergeant, asked the men to roll down their windows.
The pair in the car refused, according to the police video, which was seen by the source and described to reporters.
Diller asked Rivera to take his hands out of his sweatshirt pocket, but the suspect balked, the source said.
Jones finally unlocked the automatic door locks, and Diller grabbed the passenger-side door handle to open the door, but Rivera allegedly wouldn’t let him free it.
Diller repeatedly yanked the handle from the outside as the passenger stubbornly pulled back in a tug of war, the source said.
Diller eventually got the door open and told Rivera again to take his hands out of his sweatshirt pocket, the source said.
That’s when Rivera allegedly fired a single shot at Diller from his seat, hitting the cop in the stomach — below his bulletproof vest.
“I’m shot!’’ Diller can be heard saying on bodycam video, the source said.
The distance between Rivera and Diller was no more than 2 feet, the source said.
“I saw the fire from the muzzle of the gun,” a local, who was afraid to give his name, told The Post on Tuesday.
“[Diller] was crying and writhing in pain. He was just yelling. It was scary,” the witness said.
The shot cop’s partner then fired two bullets through the driver-side window, with them whizzing past Jones and at least one striking Rivera in the back, the source said.
After the shooting, other officers who had rushed to the scene from a few blocks away helped pick the mortally wounded cop up off the ground as he gushed blood, and put him into a police vehicle before driving him to Jamaica Hospital, the witness and source said.
“Everybody was tense, everybody was scared, everybody was sad,” the witness said.
“[Diller’s] partner was very emotional. He was crying. I’d say four or five other cops were crying.”
Another witness, Deon Peters, who has a real-estate office nearby, told The Post on Tuesday, “The partner was upset. He was crying for his boy.
“He was saying, ‘He got a kid, he got family.”
The first resident said Diller was responsive at first after the shooting but “towards the end, he wasn’t responding.
“It took six or seven cops to get him in one of their vehicles. They didn’t wait for the ambulance,” the witness said. “One cop hopped in the driver’s seat, another one went in the passenger seat, and they sped away with him.
“The partner … was holding the suspect down, but he was still crying and stuff. The sergeant came and relieved him.”
As the cops raced the dying officer to the hospital, their vehicle got stuck in traffic, and they were forced to drive the wrong way down some streets — with higher-ups later commending them for not waiting for an ambulance.
“They did the right thing,’’ the high-ranking source said of the officers — who as part of the NYPD’s CRT typically focused on investigating vehicles with illegal license plates and window tints, and other quality-of-life issues.
Rivera remained hospitalized Tuesday, while Jones was being held for questioning at the 101st Precinct in Queens. Neither man has been charged.
The local unnamed witness said he was distraught over what he saw.
“Over a traffic stop? It shouldn’t come to this,” he said. “Justice needs to be served for the officer’s family.
“Another thing that gets me mad is you have a gun, you don’t want to go back to jail, then put it down, don’t use it, or take your punishment for having it. You were stupid enough to have a gun, let them take it, and go to jail, it’s as simple as that.”
