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In a gripping video captured by police bodycams, an accused cop killer is seen smiling while lying handcuffed on the ground, mere moments after allegedly gunning down NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. The footage, which was presented to jurors on Wednesday during the Queens murder trial of Guy Rivera, involves the 2024 fatal shooting that left Diller dead.
The courtroom was emotionally charged as NYPD Detective Derval Whyte took the witness stand and recounted the harrowing final moments of his colleague and friend, Diller. Overcome with emotion, Whyte testified, “I just watched my friend get shot for no reason.”
Whyte described the scene, saying, “He’s on his back, he’s motionless. I heard him say, ‘I’ve been shot.’ I went over to find the gunshot wound. I rolled him back and forth and found the bullet wound above his belly.”
Asked to provide details about the bodycam footage, Whyte remarked, “That’s the defendant. He looks like he’s smiling.”
When he was asked to describe the footage, Whyte said, “That’s the defendant. He looks like he’s smiling.”
Diller, a 31-year-old married father, was investigating a suspicious vehicle in Far Rockaway on March 25, 2024, when Rivera allegedly opened fire and mortally wounded him.
Rivera, who was wounded in the exchange, was wrestled to the ground and arrested.
Diller’s widow, Stephanie Diller, has been in court for the trial, surrounded by an army of NYPD cops, but left the room before any videos of her husband’s death were played for the jury.
On the stand, Whyte described how Rivera is seen in the footage taking off his seatbelt while being questioned by cops, then grabbing a gun and shooting Diller.
“Oh my God,” Whyte is heard saying on the video. “Dilly! Oh f—k, bro!”
He then broke down and needed two minutes to compose himself.