Former President Trump praised fallen hero NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller as “top of his class” at his Long Island vigil on Thursday, and three others at the $25 million fundraiser that shut down midtown Manhattan. Living presidents rub shoulders with celebrities.
“Some things in life are just moments in time, and this is a moment in time,” Trump told the Post after an emotional wake at Massapequa Funeral Home.
“This particular great officer was at the top of his class and captured that moment. A perfect family was so tragically changed forever.”
The Republican presidential candidate flew to Long Island to meet with grieving relatives and hundreds of uniformed police officers. He said he spoke with Diller’s widow, Stephanie, and met her 1-year-old son, Ryan.
“I was telling my wife, Stephanie, that she’s an amazing person, and that we have a 1-year-old baby who doesn’t know that his life has been affected by this,” Trump said from his private plane on the tarmac at MacArthur Airport. ” he said.
“I said something has to come out of it. And the only thing you can really think of is that something will come out of it. It’s about being tougher.”
Outside the funeral home, President Trump furiously told mourners that police killings “happen too often” in the United States.
“This is not going to work, so we have to do a lot of things differently,” President Trump said.
“The only thing we can say is that we’ll probably learn something,” he continued. “We have to step up and strengthen it. Things like this shouldn’t happen often.”
As light rain fell in Nassau County, hundreds of police officers from New York’s Finest and other parts of the region gathered under a tent and waited to pay their respects to Diller. A wall of flowers lined the road, including a touching arrangement shaped like a police shield with Diller’s badge number engraved on it.
“I’ve been a police officer in New York for 11 years,” said Nick, who works for Brooklyn’s Strategic Response Group (SRG 3).
“Unfortunately, I’ve been in too many of these places, but when it’s just one of us, when it’s a police officer, we all come rain or shine. ”
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He added, “That’s our brother there. It’s like losing a family member. It doesn’t matter if you knew him or not. It shocks us all.”
Trump attended Diller’s wake as Biden, former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama met in the Big Apple for a star-studded record-breaking fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall. It was held on the occasion.
“People were very, very, very happy to have a very caring person like President Trump spending so much time with their families,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. He said the president’s visit was “very comforting” to the Diller family.
President Trump said that Diller’s relatives had invited him to the wake, and called 31-year-old police murder suspect Guy Rivera a “thug” and called for a crackdown on crime.
“This isn’t just a New York thing,” he says. “I saw police officers from other states. I saw Texas, I saw Ohio. This was a moment in time, and we have to get tough on crime, we have to be tough on criminals. I think this is taken from the perspective that we have to be strict about this.”
President Trump also slammed New York City’s recently passed traffic stop law. The law, which went into effect in July, requires NYPD officers to document even the most subtle interactions with the public.
“I think this is sad and I know that many police forces have complained bitterly about this. They are currently spending more time on paperwork than on policing and this is This is actually happening,” President Trump said.
“It has no effect other than giving criminals more time on the prowl.”
“We have to take care of our police, but we shouldn’t defund them,” he added.
Diller was on patrol in Far Rockaway on Monday when he was allegedly shot and killed by Rivera, a ruthless ex-convict with 21 prior arrests, who was riding with a career criminal friend.
In just three years on the job, Diller had completed more than 70 busts and was part of what his relatives called “the real Blue Bloods family.” It’s named after his popular CBS series about a family of Big Apple police officers.
Mr. Diller, whose brother-in-law and cousin are both police officers, leaves behind his wife, Stephanie, and young son, Ryan.
Hoboken resident Deanna Vollmer, who attended John Street Elementary School in Franklin Square with Diller, said the news was “hard to take.”
She said she was “speechless” after hearing about the tragedy. “That’s not what I want to hear, but it gives me a different impression when I hear it from someone I know.”
“It’s the right thing to do to respect the family,” she said. “It’s difficult to process.”
Mr. Diller’s funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Rose of Lima RC Church, also in Massapequa, followed by burial at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.
Rivera, who was injured in a shootout with other officers, was formally charged with murder, attempted murder and weapons possession Thursday from his hospital bed.
