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Slain cop Jason Rivera's wife gets standing ovation as she slams Manhattan DA in powerful eulogy

Dominique Luzuriaga, widow of the slain officer, slammed the soft-on-crime policies of the new DA, saying, 'I hope he is watching you speak through me right now'

Dominique Luzuriaga, the newly-wed wife of slain New York City Police officer Jason Rivera, got a standing ovation as she read a powerful eulogy for her husband. The Friday funeral on January 28 also saw the young woman ripping into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his soft approach towards crimes and criminals.

Rivera was killed along with partner Wilbert Mora, 27, on January 21, in an ambush attack. The memorial for Rivera happened at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan, which was attended by thousands of police officers, public officials, family, and friends. Luzuriaga revealed that the day when the tragedy happened she did not want her husband to go to work and had an argument because of that. She said, “You know it’s hard being a cop’s wife sometimes. It is hard being patient when plans were canceled or we would go days without seeing each other or when you had to write a report that would take forever because you had to vouch for so many things.”

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The 22-year-old deceased officer and Luzuriaga reportedly had known each other since their childhood days and got married in October last year only. Recounting the horror of January 21, she said that when she got to know that two cops had been shot in Harlem, her “heart dropped”. She went on to say, “I immediately texted you and asked you, ‘Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay. I know that you are mad right now but just text me you are okay. At least tell me you are busy.’ I get no response.”

“We used to share locations on ‘Find My iPhone’ and when I checked yours I see you are at Harlem Hospital. I thought maybe you were sitting on a perp. But still, nothing. I called and then called again and then called one more time. And this time I felt something wasn’t right,” she added.

Luzuriaga said that she soon received a call from the hospital asking her to come. Explaining her hospital experience, she said, “Dozens 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 and not hearing you when I was talking to you broke me. I was lost. I’m still lost,” before noting: “You have the whole nation on gridlock. And although you won’t be here anymore, I want you to live through me.”

Luzuriaga then moved her focus towards Bragg as she said, “The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service [NYPD]. I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA. I hope he is watching you speak through me right now.” This was when people stood up to give her a standing ovation.

“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. We’ll take the watch from here,” Luzuriaga added while attendees once again stood to pay respect to the slain officer.

The New York Post reported that a day before Rivera was shot dead, Bragg had doubled down on his soft-on-crime policies. During a virtual appearance at New York University School of Law, he said prosecutorial discretion is “a bedrock principle embedded in our Constitution,” before adding: “Look, one thing that has happened — and it’s happened in our state, it’s happened federally — is the proliferation of criminal laws. No prosecutor is enforcing every single law all the time. We’re all exercising prosecutorial discretion. You know, what I and some others have done is: We said it out loud in the spirit of transparency.”