Los Angeles police sergeant dies from COVID-19

A Los Angeles Police Department sergeant died Sunday of COVID-19 complications.

Sgt. Fred Cueto was on the force for 22 years, the department said.

“He was known for always having a smile & being a consummate professional,” the LAPD said Sunday evening on Twitter.

As cases surge across L.A. County, the agency has seen an increase in recent weeks in the number of officers and civilian personnel testing positive for the coronavirus, Chief Michel Moore said at the Nov. 24 Police Commission meeting.

As of late November, 790 officers and civilian personnel had tested positive, and of that, 162 employees were at home either quarantining or recovering from COVID-19.

LAPD lost its first employee to COVID-19 in early July when Senior Detention Officer Erica McAdoo died from complications of the disease.

Officer Valentin Martinez, 45, died a few weeks later. The first sworn LAPD officer to die from COVID-19 complications, he worked patrol and is presumed to have contracted the virus while on duty.

On Sunday evening, Moore expressed his pain of losing another officer to COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has tragically struck close to home for the LAPD again,” Moore said on Twitter. “Sergeant Fred Cueto fought valiantly, but succumbed to the virus today. As we mourn the loss of one of our own, please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers tonight.”