A ‘Well Liked’ Veteran Fresno Police Officer Is in the Hospital With COVID-19

A ‘well liked’ veteran Fresno police officer is in the hospital with COVID-19.

“I can’t get into the particulars on it, but he has had some complications with COVID-19,” Fresno Police Sgt. Jeff LaBlue tells GV Wire℠. “We’re waiting to see how the medication takes to his body.”

LaBlue says the officer’s family has requested privacy so the department is not revealing his name or details on his condition.

The Fresno Police Officer’s Association is working to support the officer and his family.

“The FPOA, the other companion officer program in conjunction with the employee services from Fresno PD is, and has been, working with the family,” says FPOA President Brandon Wiemiller.”Out of an abundance of respect to their privacy and confidentiality, I can’t speak any further other than to say we are working with the family and have been to assist them in whatever they need.”

LaBlue said a retired Fresno officer who had been working part time was hospitalized a few months ago with COVID-19 and has since recovered.

50 Officers Currently on Leave Due to COVID

There are currently 50 Fresno police officers on leave, either with COVID-19 symptoms or in self-quarantine, LaBlue said. The department has 782 sworn officers in total.

“The numbers fluctuated from March from periods of having none at all, and periodically throughout the year, all the way up to a high of 77,” said LaBlue.

Among all department staff, sworn and non-sworn, over 500 individuals have missed work during the pandemic due to coronavirus protocols.

“522 have been quarantined at some point or another (this year),” LaBlue said. He says there have been 102 officers throughout the pandemic that have been COVID-19 positive themselves.

Some employees may have been counted twice, because the calculation is “not specific to each individual body,” he noted.

“So if somebody was quarantined twice, it would be counted twice.”