NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller's suspected killer Guy Rivera pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in a Queens courtroom Tuesday morning.
The career criminal accused of fatally shooting a New York Police Department officer in the stomach during a routine traffic stop pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday morning, more than a month after the incident. Guy Rivera, 34, was hospitalized after he allegedly inflicted a mortal wound on Officer Jonathan Diller, 31, and fellow officers returned fire. He was still wearing a brace on his wrist when he arrived handcuffed in court and had visible scars on his face.
On March 25, a group of NYPD officers including Diller approached Rivera and his friend Lindy Jones, another ex-con, in an illegally parked car in Far Rockaway, New York. The officers suspected he might have been carrying an illegal handgun after witnessing him walk out of a store with a gun-shaped object in his front pocket, prosecutors revealed Tuesday.
Rivera suffered a gunshot wound of his own during the struggle and was taken to the hospital. Police recovered another gun from Jones' glove box, with the serial number scratched off, prosecutors said. He faces felony firearms charges. Both men have lengthy rap sheets and prior felony convictions. One has pending felony charges, and both obtained firearms they could not legally own.
Rivera has had 21 prior arrests, nine of them for felonies, and he recently got off parole. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz previously said Rivera's arraignment would happen as soon as he was medically cleared. 'We are grateful that the grand jury returned serious charges against the defendant,' she said Tuesday. 'Our thoughts are with Detective Diller’s family, friends and colleagues as they continue to grieve. We will seek justice for him.
Diller died at Jamaica Hospital in Queens. He had a wife and a 1-year-old son. News of his death prompted a national outcry that grew larger after details about the suspects' criminal backgrounds emerged. 'Detective Diller was shot and killed while trying to rid our streets of illegal weapons, a lawless act that was an affront to a civilized society,' Katz said in a statement Tuesday.
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