Barstool Sports and its founder Dave Portnoy are making a $1.5 million donation to the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller after agreeing to match fan donations.
‘Thank you to everyone who donated,’ Portnoy told his X followers. ‘We raised 750,000. With the counterpart funds, the total amounts to 1.5 million that will go directly to the family.’
Diller, 31, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Queens on Monday night by a career criminal with 21 prior arrests. He had been on the job for just three years when he was shot and killed while asking a driver why he had parked at a bus stop.
Her alleged killer, Guy Rivera, 34, had been repeatedly jailed for violent and drug-related offenses and was arrested on a weapons charge in April last year, just yards from the scene of the murder.
Officer Diller leaves behind a young widow, Stephanie, and a one-year-old son in their Long Island home.
Dave Portnoy has pledged to double the total amount raised by Barstool Sports for the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.
Officer Diller lived with his wife Stephanie and their one-year-old son (pictured) in Massapequa Park on Long Island in New York City.
Portnoy and Barstool Sports immediately began raising funds for Diller’s family.
In an appeal to get as many donations as possible before midnight on Wednesday, Portnoy also pledged to double the total amount.
He said: “I’m sure everyone has seen the story.” Tragic. The New York police officer, Jonathan Diller, who was murdered. Routine traffic stop, they pulled over two guys, a million previous ones, went in and out of jail a million times and just opened fire on him, basically.
‘Tragic. He leaves behind a one-year-old child, his wife. We sell t-shirts. We have raised about $240,000 directly for the family. Every penny we earn goes to the family.
‘On top of that, anything we sell, anything we do at the end of the day today at midnight, I’m just going to match it, so I’ll double everything we can do.
‘I know money doesn’t cure this. Nothing can cure this, but it’s the least we can do and Barstool, myself, have a long history of supporting the police, supporting the boys in blue, supporting first responders.
‘You know, it’s tragic. These guys go out, they risk their lives. Routine traffic stop and two fucking motherfuckers, who should be in prison, I don’t know why they’re out, take your life.
“It’s just horrible, so anything we can do to support him, we will.”
Suspect Guy Rivera was shot at the scene by a colleague of Officer Diller and taken to the same Queen’s Hospital as the fatally wounded officer.
Officer Jonathan Diller, 31, of New York’s 105th Precinct, had only been on the job for three years.
Diller and a colleague were working in Far Rockaway as part of the New York Police Department’s Critical Response Team focused on automobile crimes.
When they asked the 34-year-old suspect to get out of the car, he refused, pointed a gun at the officers and fired, hitting Diller in the torso, just below his bulletproof vest.
Witnesses heard gunshots at 5:50 p.m., less than two blocks from the NYPD’s 101st Precinct precinct.
“It happened very quickly,” Melissa Morgan, 39, told the Daily News.
‘The policeman fell to the ground and the other officers pulled the two guys out of the car. I was running for cover.
“He shot a police officer, it’s incredible.”
Neighbors heard gunshots at 5:50 p.m., less than two blocks from the NYPD’s 101st Precinct precinct, before seeing the fatally wounded officer lying in the street.
Diller and a colleague were working in Far Rockaway as part of the New York Police Department’s Critical Response Team focused on automobile crimes.
“He was rolling on the ground saying, ‘I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot,'” another witness said.
Radio interceptions recorded colleagues frantically calling for an ambulance moments later.
‘We need a bus here ASAP!’ one yelled, ‘We have an officer shot!’
The gunman was in the passenger seat when he shot through the window at the officer.
He was shot in the back when police returned fire before both wounded men were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens.
The 41-year-old driver of the car, identified by sources as Lindy Jones, was arrested and a firearm was recovered at the scene.