An NYPD detective who survived 9/11-related cancer has died due to coronavirus.
Detective Robert Cardona was a 19-year veteran of the NYPD and leaves behind an 8-year-old son after succumbing to the illness, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison.
“Today we lost another great detective to COVID-19 complications,” Harrison said on Twitter.
Cardona is at least the 26th member of the NYPD to have died from coronavirus complications. Six of the victims were uniformed members and the other 20 were civilian employees.
More than 4,000 members of the NYPD have tested positive for the virus, including 3,350 uniformed officers and 730 civilian employees.
The department announced it would begin taking officers’ temperatures in a pilot initiative to try and halt the spread of the virus through the ranks.
With a large number of the 36,000-person strong police force out sick, the department has instructed detectives to don their patrol uniforms and lend a hand patrolling on the streets, sources told the Post.
