NYPD promotes boss of precinct where Miosotis Familia was killed

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The commanding officer of the Bronx precinct where Officer Miosotis Familia was killed in the line of duty last month has been promoted to deputy chief.

Inspector Philip Rivera, 44, moved up Tuesday at police headquarters and will serve as the executive officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan North.

“It’s a bittersweet moment, coming on the heels of the loss of Officer Familia,” he said after the ceremony, surrounded by cops from the 46th Precinct, which he led for three years.

“This is a really good group of guys. They are like my extended family, that’s how close we have become.”

Relatives of the slain officer attended the event and embraced Rivera afterward and posed for pictures.

A crazed gunman with anti-cop sentiments ambushed Familia, a 12-year veteran, just after midnight July 5, as she sat in a mobile command center on a Bronx block known for a spate of violence. Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News New NYPD Deputy Chief Philip Rivera (c.) receives his new insignia from his mother Carmen Adames Rivera (l.) and wife Tanya Rivera (r.) at the ceremony.

Dressed in black, Alexander Bonds, 34, crept up to the side window of the vehicle and fired one round from a stolen gun. Familia died at about 3:30 a.m.

Cops caught up to Bonds a short time later and shot him dead after he raised his gun at them.

At a vigil for Familia on July 8, Rivera lauded her “patience” and “graciousness.”

In addition to Rivera, Deputy Inspector Norman Grandstaff, commanding officer of the 71st Precinct in Brooklyn, was promoted to inspector.

Five captains were promoted to deputy inspector, five to commander of detectives squads and five to lieutenant special assignment, including Lt. Paul Ng, who works as an NYPD spokesman.

Thirty-two sergeants were promoted to lieutenant, including Sgt. Daryl Melhade, who won the NYPD Combat Cross for valor in 2010.

Among nine other sergeants who were promoted, Sgt. Thomas Rouse was named sergeant supervisor detective.

Rouse won the 2017 Combat Cross for a 2013 arrest in which he was one of three cops who captured a gunman after the man had opened fire on them in the Rockaways. New York Daily News Front page of New York Daily News for July 6, 2017.

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