‘We are hurting’: First NYPD detective dies from coronavirus, three employees now dead with hundreds sick

By | March 28, 2020

A deputy with the New York Police Department has died from the coronavirus as the department struggles with staff shortages and hundreds of infected officers.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced Saturday that Detective Cedric Dixon, who worked for the NYPD for 23 years, has died. The officer, who had underlying health conditions, was hospitalized three days ago.

The death is the third that the department has had since the start of the pandemic, which has disproportionately affected New York. Almost 45,000 people have been infected, and more than 500 have died in the state.

The NYPD announced Friday that civilian employee Giacomina Barr-Brown, who worked with the department for seven years, died on Thursday. Dennis Dickson, a 14-year custodian who worked at police headquarters, also died this week.

“We have lost three members of our family in a little over 48 hours,” Shea said at a Saturday news conference. “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.

NYPD Coronavirus
A police officer talks to people who have arrived to line up outside Elmhurst Hospital Center to be tested for the coronavirus, Tuesday, March 24, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York.

As of Friday, more than 500 NYPD employees, including 442 officers, have tested positive for COVID-19. Additionally, 11.4% of the department’s workforce (more than 4,000 officers and civilian workers) have called in sick this week.

The United States surpassed 100,000 total cases on Friday.

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