NYPD officers who died from COVID-19 during the pandemic deserve to be treated — and enshrined — as heroes, family and union officials are urging.
Detective James Abear’s death in 2020 was as if he was struck by an “invisible bullet,” his still grieving widow Catharine Abear told The Post.
Abear was a Special Victims Division sleuth visiting crime victims in Queens hospitals when the virus invaded the borough’s emergency rooms in early 2020.
Coronavirus five years ago. Leonardo Munoz
“My husband went out there every day,” said Abear. “Even though his job was dangerous, I didn’t think this was going to take his life.
“At that very early stage . . . we knew very, very little about the disease and there wasn’t a lot of understanding on how to protect ourselves . . . and masks were far and few between,” she added. “So sadly, he caught it very early on.”
When he died on April 13, 2020 at the age of 43, the couple had a 4-month-old daughter, Stella, and a 2-year-old son, Jackson.
Abear’s widow wants her husband and the other victims to be memorialized on the Hall of Heroes wall at NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan, where the names of detectives shot and killed in the line of duty and those who died as a result of illnesses connected to the 9/11 attacks are listed.
“For him to be honored by them, that’s an accomplishment,” Abear said. “We have young kids and I want them to stand in the hall at One Police Plaza, look up and say, ‘That’s my dad.’”
Abear is among six detectives who died from COVID to be honored at a five-year memorial ceremony at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica Saturday.
The others being honored are Cedric Dixon, of the 32nd Precinct Detective Squad, Jack Polimeni, of the Manhattan Warrant Squad, Jeffrey Scalf, of the Bronx Gang Squad, Robert Cardona of the 13th Precinct Detective Squad and Christopher McDonnell, of the Intelligence Bureau. All of them had about 20 years on the job each.
“They all really passed within about two weeks of each other, the six detectives,” Abear said. “They were the first of the department to get sick.”
There were nearly 70 members of the NYPD, including non-uniformed and uniformed employees, who died of the illness.
Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro recalled how difficult it was for the union to secure protective equipment such as masks, gloves and sanitizer for members in the early days of the pandemic. The department didn’t provide the equipment.
“Like all detectives, they faced the front lines of the pandemic with unwavering dedication protecting others even as they risked their own health,” he said.
“Now it is our duty to honor these detectives and ensure their legacies live on for generations.”
The families also received line of duty death benefits and have their names on memorial walls, including at Ground Zero and in Washington, D.C.