(ProsperNews.net) – A New York police officer was shot and killed during a traffic stop on March 25, allegedly by a man with a long criminal rap sheet. Jonathan Diller approached a vehicle containing a passenger named Guy Rivera, who reportedly refused to exit the car when Officer Diller asked. The 31-year-old policeman then attempted to physically remove Rivera from the vehicle, at which point he sustained a gunshot to the abdomen immediately under his protective vest.
The officer continued to struggle with the suspect after the gunshot and wrestled the pistol from his hand. Mr. Diller’s partner then shot Rivera, and both men were rushed to hospital, where the officer later died.
A statement from the New York Police Department (NYPD) subsequently confirmed the young husband and father’s death, and Mayor Eric Adams described the incident as a “senseless act of violence.” Commissioner Edward Caban tweeted, “Tonight this city lost a hero, a wife lost her husband, and a young child lost their father.”
The New York Post reports that Rivera and the driver, Lindy Jones, had lengthy criminal records. Rivera was released from prison in 2021, having served a five-year term for criminal possession of a controlled substance. Jones was out on $75,000 bail after an arrest last year on gun charges. He had also served a ten-year jail sentence and had a total of 14 arrests to his credit.
Mayor Adams noted that his city does not just have a crime problem but a “recidivist problem.” Last year, the Mayor said the Big Apple had made “significant progress” in tackling crime, but a major remaining obstacle was a high recidivism rate. Adams said there are thousands of repeat offenders in the city who are “dangerous” and “continually committing crimes over and over again.”
Nevertheless, crime statistics published in February showed a 2.9% drop in overall offenses compared to 2023. Shooting incidents were reportedly down by 10.8%. NYPD officers furthermore seized 508 guns between January 2023 and January 2024.
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