A veteran narcotics officer within the Chicago Police Department died of COVID-19 early Thursday, officers mentioned.
The officer’s dying is the primary within the just about 14,000-person division, which has noticed greater than 60 showed circumstances of COVID-19 as of Wednesday.
Interim CPD Supt. Charlie Beck known the officer as Marco DiFranco.
“His sacrifice underscores the threats that are faced by public safety employees who are not, by nature of their profession, allowed to shelter in place, shelter at home,” Beck mentioned at a City Hall information convention, the place used to be joined by way of the Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Kevin Graham, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Sources mentioned the 50-year-old officer have been with the CPD since 1998 and used to be assigned to the Narcotics Division based totally out of the CPD’s Homan Square facility. Over his occupation, DiFranco earned greater than 150 departmental awards, Beck mentioned, together with the Superintendent’s Honorable Mention and a unique commendation.
Beck mentioned DiFranco leaves at the back of two youngsters, ages 7 and 10, and has a brother who could also be a CPD officer within the Narcotics Division. The deceased officer’s circle of relatives, in addition to his brother, are all in quarantine, Beck mentioned.
It used to be no longer instantly transparent if the officer’s circle of relatives would obtain line-of-duty dying advantages.
“We’re looking at all circumstances,” Beck mentioned. “It’s way too early to do that at this point.”
Before the inside track convention, Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), whose Northwest Side ward is house to rankings of Chicago law enforcement officials, mentioned the officer’s dying must be regarded as a line-of-duty dying, with all of the honors and advantages that comes with.
“I don’t want this to turn into a New York where the firemen and the police officers have to fight for a duty death,” Sposato mentioned. “We’re gonna have to do something really fast.”
DiFranco is the second one town worker to die from the virus, Lightfoot mentioned. The mayor on Wednesday had introduced the primary dying of a town worker, however introduced no main points or every other data.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday morning, pronouncing the dying of a Chicago police officer from COVID-19.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Lightfoot mentioned she spoke with DiFranco’s widow in a while prior to the click convention and introduced her condolences.
“Those are very hard conversations to have when a wife and family [are] sitting in that moment with their grief, and I always offer my sincere condolences and sincerely offer to support the family in any way I can,” Lightfoot mentioned. “But having been through death and grief myself, these moments are so surreal and they’re so hard.”
Dr. Allison Arwady, who additionally used to be on the information convention, mentioned she is aware of of no different first responder in Illinois who has died of COVID-19 up to now.
The officer shrunk the virus remaining week and used to be hospitalized this previous weekend, Lightfoot mentioned. He labored undercover and due to this fact had minimum public touch, Beck mentioned; Lightfoot mentioned he used to be in a one-officer automobile.
Graham mentioned the union is “truly devastated” and recommended officials feeling depressed to achieve out to the worker help program.
John Catanzara, who completed first within the first spherical of the election for president of the Fraternal Order of Police, mentioned he fears the dying may well be the primary of many within the ranks of the Chicago Police Department.
“The fact that we were not prepared in any way, shape or form for this is kind of ridiculous. Even if the officer did have pre-existing conditions, if we had proper masks, proper sanitizers, there could have been precautions taken much sooner for people with those conditions so they weren’t so directly exposed to this stuff,” Catanzara mentioned.
Lightfoot on the information convention mentioned the perception that CPD used to be unprepared “flies in the face of the reality.” She known as Catanzara any person who’s “uninformed” and “unconnected” to what’s going on with the disaster.
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