NEW YORK – A detective with the New York Police Department died from the coronavirus. He is the first sworn member of the department to die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, reported NBC News.
Cedric Dixon, a 23-year veteran of the department, died at a hospital in the Bronx, said the Detectives’ Endowment Association president, Paul DiGiacomo.
“He was known as the person that would do anything to help you,” police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference on Saturday. “He’s going to be so sorely missed.”
Dixon was assigned to the 32nd precinct in Harlem. DiGiacomo described him as a great detective.
News of the death comes after the department said Friday that 442 uniformed employees have tested positive for the coronavirus along with 70 civilian employees, NBC reported.
The agency has also lost two civilian employees to the virus.
“We have lost three members of our family in as little as 48 hours,” Shea said Saturday. “As I stand here I cannot begin to describe what we are feeling. What the families of these three heroes are feeling. We are hurting. We are crying. And we continue to fight. We simply have no other choice.”
New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus, with 52,318 confirmed cases and 728 deaths, as of Saturday morning. In New York City alone, there are more than 29,000 cases.
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