Attys question validity of stop that led to killing of cop in Queens
/
Attorneys questioned the validity of the stop that led to the shooting death of NYPD cop Jonathan Diller in Far Rockaway in 2024. Screenshot via Google Maps
By Ryan Schwach
Attorneys from the Legal Aid Society argued in court Wednesday that police officers weren’t justified when they made the stop that ultimately led to the shooting death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller in Queens last year.
At Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday, attorneys tried to poke holes in the probable cause behind the stop of Guy Rivera, the man on trial for shooting and killing Diller in Far Rockaway in March 2024, and argued that the stops of Rivera and two unrelated men that day could have been racially motivated.
Though police have maintained they stopped Rivera and Lindy Jones because they spotted a gun in Rivera’s hoodie, Jamal Johnson, Rivera’s attorney, argued before a Queens judge on Wednesday that the officer who claimed to see the gun in Rivera’s pocket could not have done so with absolute certainty.
Wednesday’s conference was a pre-trial hearing in the case against Rivera and Jones, who is also on trial for Diller’s murder.
The bulk of Johnson’s argument came during his cross-examination of NYPD Sergeant Sasha Rosen, Diller’s partner on the day of the shooting in 2024.
Diller and Rosen, along with three other officers, were members of the NYPD’s Community Response Team – a unit that has been accused of using aggressive policing tactics – out of Patrol Borough Queens South.
The day of the shooting, they were assigned to the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway.
Rosen, a 24-year-veteran of the department, testified that as other officers questioned an unrelated man on Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, he witnesses Rivera – who has more than 20 prior arrests – walk out of a store with what he believed to be a gun in the front pocket of his hoodie.
“As he came closer it became a little more evident,” Rosen said from the stand on Wednesday, saying he believed he saw the sights of the gun protruding from the “Kangaroo pocket” in the hoodie.
“It looked to me like…a firearm,” he said.
Security footage and clips taken from Rosen’s body-worn camera were played in the courtroom, and showed Rivera and Jones entering a car parked on Mott Avenue.
The footage showed Rosen walking up to Diller and another officer and asking, “Did you see that?” before the three officers walked away and toward the car Rivera and Jones were in.
That’s when Diller ordered Rivera to roll down his car window and get out of the car. Not long after, police say Rivera shot Diller. The other officers fired back, hitting Rivera and injuring him.
The video shown in court Wednesday cut off just before the fatal shot was fired.
Rivera’s attorneys questioned the specifics of Rosen’s observations, and the officers' cause for approaching Rivera and Jones in the first place.
Police Officer Johnathan Diller was shot and killed in Far Rockaway in March 2024. Photo via NYPD
The attorneys argued that Rosen could not have known for sure it was a gun in Rivera’s pocket.
The sergeant was shown close up screenshots of Rivera’s pocket from surveillance footage, and attorneys asserted it could have been more “square-shaped,” indicating a phone rather than a gun.
“I don’t know what they could be,” Rosen said. “It appears to be a cell phone. I can’t say for sure, but it appears to be a cell phone.”
Several other items – including a piece of metal, a knife and a cell phone – were found in Rivera’s pocket following the incident, and attorneys argued it could have been anything making the protrusion Rosen noticed in Rivera's pocket.
Different close-up images brought into evidence by the DA’s office showed a different shape protruding from Rivera’s pocket.
Rosen testified that both images looked different.
A semi-automatic pistol was recovered at the scene.
Johnson also pointed to an unrelated individual stopped on Mott Avenue, and another stopped by the officers in Far Rockaway that day, both of which were Black men. Nothing was recovered during either stop, the attorneys said.
During his cross-examination, Johnson asked Rosen if he had stopped Rivera because he was Black or Latino.
Rosen rejected the assertion.
Several dozen NYPD officers and union members attended the hearing, including Police Benevolent Association President Patrick McHendry.
“The sergeant clearly saw an object which appeared to be a gun…the individual ended up having a gun, shooting and killing our hero, Police Officer Jonathan Diller,” McHendry told the Eagle outside the courtroom. “I expect the case to proceed going forward. I believe that the stops will stay in and that the case will proceed.”
The story of the shooting has changed slightly over time.
Initial reports claimed that it was a traffic stop that led to the interaction, but Rosen testified that he did not notice the vehicle or whether or not it was parked illegally, and was instead focused on Rivera, who he believed to be armed.
Rosen and Diller were seen in the footage approaching the car on the passenger side, where Rivera was, while a third officer approached the driver’s side, which was occupied by Jones.
Diller ordered Rivera to roll down the window, but the 34-year-old did not listen, only rolling down the window about a quarter of the way before rolling it back up.
Diller then ordered Rivera to step out of the vehicle, knocking on the window and attempting several times to open the car door, which was locked.
On the other driver’s of the car, the other officer reached into the vehicle and unlocked the door.
The footage showed Diller opening the passenger door and Rivera moving forward in his seat before the fatal shot was fired.
The shooting of Diller, a 31-year-old, three-year vet of the department, shook the city when it happened in March 2024.
“We lost one of our sons today, and it is extremely painful,” said Mayor Eric Adams the day of the shooting, calling the incident a “senseless act of violence.”
“We witnessed a person who had a total disregard for the safety of the city,” Adams, a former NYPD captain, added.
Diller, who lived in Massapequa Park in Long Island, was married with a young son.
Criminal Court Judge Michael Aloise oversaw the hearing.
The judge scheduled the next conference in the case for mid-December, ahead of a trial at the beginning of next year.
