The heartbroken widow of NYPD hero cop Jonathan Diller broke down in tears in a Queens courtroom Tuesday as prosecutors described how a bullet allegedly fired by a career criminal “ripped through” her husband.
Stephanie Diller also left the room twice 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.
The video, which showed fellow officers rushing the dying 31-year-old dad to a 1-year-old to the hospital, also brought several cops seated in the courtroom gallery to tears.
But it was the graphic description of the crime that shattered the room.
“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.
Diller had noticed a Kia Soul suspiciously parked at a bus stop on Mott Avenue, near a T-Mobile store, that Rivera and co-defendant Lindy Jones were sitting in, authorities have said.
He was questioning the pair when Rivera, who was on the passenger side, allegedly fired off three rounds and struck the veteran cop in the stomach, under his bulletproof vest, according to prosecutors.
“I’m shot!’’ Diller can be heard crying out on the bodycam video.
On Tuesday, nearly 100 of New York’s finest turned out for the first day of the accused triggerman’s trial, filling the courtroom and two overflow rooms — with Diller’s widow seated in the middle of a sea of blue.
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.”
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.”
The slain cop was promoted to a detective posthumously.
Stephanie Diller, who delivered a moving eulogy at her husband’s funeral with the couple’s young son nearby, was later invited by President Trump to his address at a joint session of Congress.
Jones, who was allegedly behind the wheel of the Kia Soul, is awaiting trial on felony weapons charges in the shooting.
He has at least 14 arrests on his rap sheet, including for robbery, assault and attempted murder in a 2001 shooting case.
