By Colin Mixson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A driver whose passenger gunned down NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller during a traffic stop in Queens was sentenced to five years behind bars on Tuesday, officials said.
Lindy Jones, 44, was behind the wheel of a 2016 Kia Soul when his passenger, Guy Rivera, opened fire on Diller in March 2024. After obtaining a search warrant, officers found a loaded 9-mm. pistol — its serial number scratched off — in the glove box of Jones’ car, according to Queens prosecutors. Diller was shot with a different gun.
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Jones pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon on June 24 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinksy, who handed down the sentence of five years in prison and five years probation.
“Lindy Jones made the deliberate decision to possess a loaded, defaced and unregistered firearm in March 2024 as he drove through the streets of Far Rockaway,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Tragically, Detective Jonathan Diller was killed in the line of duty when he was shot and killed with another illegal weapon possessed by co-defendant Guy Rivera.”
Jones was behind the wheel of the Kia Soul crossover SUV idling in Far Rockaway when Diller and other officers, who had spotted Rivera, 36, enter the vehicle with a gun-shaped bulge in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, approached the car.
As cops ordered Jones and his passenger to exit the vehicle, Rivera drew a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and shot Diller, prosecutors said.
Rivera then pointed his weapon at an NYPD sergeant, but his weapon jammed, according to prosecutors.
Following his arrest at the scene, Jones told police that Rivera was hitchhiking when he picked him up and said they’d only met the day of Diller’s shooting, Queens Assistant D.A. Gabriel Reale said at Jones’ arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.
Jones was previously busted in 2023 on a weapons charge, also in Far Rockaway, when he told arresting officers, “My name is Lindy Jones, and I shoot people,” law enforcement sources said.
Rivera was convicted of aggravated manslaughter, attempted murder and gun charges for Diller’s slaying following a dramatic three-week trial in April. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise later sentenced him to 115 years behind bars.
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