LAPD Officer Dies After Contracting Coronavirus

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles police officer died of the coronavirus early Friday, the first sworn officer in the city to succumb to the deadly pandemic, law enforcement officials told The Times.

The officer had been sick for at least a week, according to a flier for a fundraiser to aid with his medical bills. The Times is not immediately identifying the officer because department-wide notifications have not been made yet.

An LAPD spokesman confirmed an officer's death, but not his identity.

The officer who died Friday is the second LAPD employee to die of the virus. Earlier this month, senior detention officer Erica McAdoo died from complications of COVID-19.

A total of 437 LAPD employees had contracted the virus as of July 22, officials said; 254 of those employees are quarantining due to exposure, according to a news release.

The number of COVID-19 cases among the LAPD's ranks boomed in July, a spike that Chief Michel Moore partially attributed to conditions officers faced during a wave of protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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