New Orleans Officer Collapses, Dies On Duty

A New Orleans police officer became unexpectedly sick and died suddenly while working his regular overnight shift on Bourbon Street early Sunday, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

In a news conference held Sunday morning, Superintendent Michael Harrison and police spokesman Tyler Gamble said that Officer Bryan Bordes was in the 500 block of Bourbon Street around 4 a.m. Sunday when he felt sick and started to have stomachaches. He then suddenly became “very ill,” and his partner said he appeared to suffer from a seizure, Harrison told reporters.

Harrison added that although medical attention arrived “within a couple of minutes,” and doctors worked on him for 45 minutes before pronouncing Bordes dead, emergency medical staff wasn’t able to save him. He was 43 years old.

“Before we could even get him to medical attention, which he requested, he collapsed on Bourbon Street,” Harrison said. “This is just such an unfortunate, sad tragedy.”

Bordes’ family didn’t say he had any prior medical conditions, according to police. Gamble said he exact cause of the officer's death had not yet been determined, and that an autopsy would be conducted.

Bordes joined the department in August 1997, and had worked in the 8th District since 2006. On Sunday morning, Harrison described the officer as a jovial person who “always had something funny to say” about himself and his other officers, and who had a smile on his face every time they would greet.

He was also a dedicated officer, Harrison said.

“Officer Bordes died this morning doing what he loved doing, and that’s serving the citizens of New Orleans,” Harrison said. “He was just a great guy to be around. He was a tremendous asset to the police department.”

During the news conference, Harrison described the “very hard” task of having to break the news of Bordes’ death to his family and his wife, who lives in Church Point, in Acadia Parish. He also commended fellow officers who waited in the night outside the hospital as doctors tried to revive their comrade, and called it a “tough time” for the police department, the city and Bordes’ family.

Harrison then alluded to tragedies involving former police officers, which includes the recent death of Natasha Hunter. She was killed less than a month ago after being hit by an alleged drunk driver at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Esplanade.

“It seems like we’re still healing from the last one and here we are grieving again,” Harrison said, calling the police department and the city “resilient. “And we will survive. And we will be closer than we’ve ever been before. And we’ll be stronger than we were before. We owe it to Officer Bordes to be nothing less.”

Copyright 2016 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

Tribune News Service