NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Praised as a hero who wanted to help the New York Police Department evolve, slain Officer Jason Rivera drew tributes and vows that the force will \u201cnever give up\u201d at a funeral Friday for the rookie who was gunned down with his partner last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police filled the pews at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral, and a sea of blue uniforms stretched for blocks as snow drifted outside the city\u2019s iconic church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeffrey Rivera recalled how his brother as a youngster was obsessed with joining the police force, even if he would later come to know its flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mayor Eric Adams, himself a retired NYPD captain, said he saw an echo of himself in\u00a0the slain officer who joined a department he hoped he could make better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe did it for the right reasons \u2014 he wanted to make a difference,\u201d said Adams, a Democrat who also sounded a message of support for a department that, like others, has faced criticism amid a national reckoning with policing, race and what public safety should mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were days when I felt the public did not understand and appreciate the job we were doing, and I want to tell you officers: They do. They do,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rivera, 22, and Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, were\u00a0fatally wounded\u00a0Jan. 21 by a gunman who opened fire on them in a hallway as they responded to a family dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through tears, Rivera\u2019s wife, Dominique Luzuriaga, recalled the horror of seeing cellphone alerts about two officers being shot in Harlem. Her worries grew as she texted and called the former elementary school classmate she married this past October. She got no answer until the call that summoned her to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities are still investigating what motivated the gunman, who was shot by a third officer and later died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her husband\u2019s funeral, Luzuriaga lashed out at new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who has instructed prosecutors not to pursue certain cases, including some allegations of resisting arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore. Not even the members of the service,\u201d Luzuriaga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bragg, who had no involvement with the officers\u2019 killer, responded in a statement that he was grieving and praying for the slain officers and will \u201cvigorously prosecute cases of violence against police.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rivera and Mora were the third and fourth officers shot in the city within 72 hours, and during a two-week stretch that also saw a woman pushed to her death in front of a subway train and an 11-month-old baby critically injured by a stray bullet. Crime has risen in the last few years from record lows but remains well below its early 1990s peak in the nation\u2019s most populous city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe horror that took their lives is an affront to every decent, caring human being in this city and beyond,\u201d Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said, telling any criminals in the city to \u201csee the presence in this cathedral \u2014 the NYPD will never give up this city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Mora and Rivera were shot,\u00a0Adams\u00a0and Democratic\u00a0Gov. Kathy Hochul\u00a0announced plans to crack down on illegal guns and combat crime. President Joe Biden, a Democrat,\u00a0is due to meet with Adams Thursday\u00a0to discuss combating gun violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mora and Rivera \u2014 who was posthumously promoted to detective on Friday \u2014 grew up in the city\u2019s ethnic enclaves and had hoped to help the department build bridges with the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJason saw the need and had the desire to foster a positive relationship between police and his community,\u201d said Inspector Amir Yakatally, the commanding officer of Rivera\u2019s and Mora\u2019s precinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that Rivera was so excited to get to work that he double-parked in front of the stationhouse his first day and showed up early every workday after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeffrey Rivera recalled that as a youngster, his brother \u2014 \u201cTata\u201d to his family and friends \u2014 listened to police radio transmissions, watched police dramas on TV and became \u201cobsessed\u201d with a law enforcement career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jason Rivera would eventually write that he had initially been angered by policing \u2014 particularly being pulled over in a taxi and seeing officers frisk his brother \u2014 but came to feel that the NYPD was trying to do better at community relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan presided over Rivera\u2019s service, speaking Spanish in recognition of the first-generation New Yorker\u2019s Dominican heritage. Father Robert Abbatiello, the pastor of a suburban church , choked up as he recalled the officer leading a prayer at his brother\u2019s wedding a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officers came from near and far to honor Rivera, who was just into his second year on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter what uniform we wear,\u201d said Master Police Officer Tammy Russel, from Fairfax County, Virginia. \u201cThese are all our brothers and sisters. … Sadness all around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some civilians joined in mourning the slain officer, standing shoulder to shoulder with uniformed officers who wore black sashes over their badges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bob Weakley said he was there to pay tribute to \u201cthese people who do such an important job for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the crowds dispersed Friday, an officer solemnly reminded his brethren that another funeral at the cathedral awaited next week, when funeral services for Mora take place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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