Posted on 01/28/2022 11:14:54 AM PST by lightman
As first responders, family, friends, and New Yorkers gathered at St. Patrick's Cathedral to say goodbye to fallen NYPD Officer Jason Rivera on Friday, his young widow delivered a heart-wrenching and powerful tribute to her 22-year-old husband who was shot and killed — along with his partner Wilbert Mora — in the line of duty last week.
"I would say good morning to you all, but in fact it's the worst morning ever," Dominique Luzuriaga began. "All of this seems so unreal, like I'm having one of those nightmares you never thought you'd have," she remarked.
"Jason is so happy right now that all of you are here, through pain and sorrow, this is exactly how he would have wanted to be remembered: like a true hero — or like I used to call him, 'Big P.O. Rivera.'" his widow told the packed cathedral and overflow crowd standing outside in the snow.
"You have the whole nation on gridlock," Luzuriaga said of her late husband. "And although you won't be here anymore, I want you to live through me," she said. "The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service. I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA," Rivera's widow said of new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. "I hope he's watching you speak through me right now," she said to thunderous applause as those gathered to remember Rivera stood in solidarity against District Attorney Bragg's new policies.
"I'm sure all of our blue family is tired too. But I promise — we promise — that your death won't be in vain. I love you to the end of time," Rivera's widow said. "We'll take the watch from here."
"Friday morning began just like every other morning before work. You were always my big spoon watching Netflix, YouTube law enforcement shorts, reading me your emails, and waiting for your mom to come home," Luzuriaga said before recalling the day her life would change forever:
Later that day I received a call I wish that none of you who are sitting here with me will ever receive. I had gotten a notification from the Citizen app, and I saw that two police officers were shot in Harlem. My heart dropped.
I immediately texted you and asked you, 'Are you ok? Please tell me you're ok. I know that you're mad right now but just text me you're ok — at least tell me you're busy.'
I get no response. We used to share locations on Find my iPhone, and when I checked yours I see that you're at Harlem hospital. I thought that maybe you were sitting on a perp, but still nothing. I called and then called again. And I called one more time. And this time I felt something wasn't right.
Then I get a call asking if I'm Jason's wife and that I had to rush to the hospital. Walking up those steps, seeing everybody staring at me, was the scariest moment I've experienced. Nobody was telling me anything. Thousands of people were surrounding me and yet I felt alone. I couldn't believe you left me.
Seeing you in that hospital bed wrapped up in sheets, not hearing you when I was talking to you, broke me. I asked why. I said to you, 'Wake up baby, I'm here.' The little bit of hope I had that you would come back to life just to say goodbye or say I love you one more time had left. I was lost. I'm still lost.
"Today I'm still in this nightmare that I wish I never had," Rivera's widow continued. "Full of rage and anger, hurt and sad, torn. Although I gained thousands of blue brothers and sisters, I'm the loneliest without you. I know you're looking at me and beside me telling me I could do this. And I'm trying. Trust me I am. But I didn't prepare for this."
If he’d been a Capitol police officer, the pro-thug folks on here would say he deserved it. RIP officer; I’m sure where you are going makes more sense than the world we live in now.
What a brave woman. God bless and comfort her.
I don’t know why the cops in localities where the DA refuses to prosecute still go to work.
Oh Dear Lord, please forgive our nation and hold this grieving woman close to Your heart.
Its way,way past time to unload those Marxists and their ‘liberal’ friends and return America to its glory. We are NOT a socialist, racist uncaring people. Its time some liberals actually woke up.
Just because someone doesn’t kiss cops ass doesn’t make them pro-thug.
tears in my eyes reading this. Prayers for her and others in this situation and those to come.
God give her strength for the direction she is going; and at such a young age. Be with her and comfort her as she confronts evil, a lot of evil. Amen
We all need to support her in her endeavor to bring change to this really nasty world, a little bit at a time.
😥 Couldn’t stop crying. Prayers for that beautiful woman.
I don’t know why cops with Soros DAs don’t arrest the DA for accomplice to all the things they allowed to happen and then react to resisting arrest at the first twitch or word the scum elicits. This could work both ways and half of the time the left could get it in the rear end. That would squash their enthusiasm for torturing society.
I suspect most intelligent people who thought that way would have no interest in being police officers in the first place.
Who would want to be in the position of following the orders of evil people?
People are sick of Soros DA’s, sad that people suffering are the ones that have to speak up and carry the burden.
It is not only the DA who needed condemning, what about the mayor and governor?
Portland tried to hire back some of the 85 who retired in the last two years and got 2 responses.
Expect a bit more "street justice"...more criminals having "accidents".
From curb to curb, for block after block, the river of blue flows up 5th Avenue. #FidelisAdMortem pic.twitter.com/8q6nlwBMBx— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) January 28, 2022
This is what New York democrats support.
He was a young kid who took a very tough job. He was brave and my heart goes out to his widow.
That being said....I wonder if he has ever arrested anyone for shopping or dining without a mask or vax passport. I have seen a bunch of NYC cops do that.
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