The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office on Thursday announced one of its sergeants had died of COVID-19.
Sgt. John Harris, 43, had been hospitalized since late July before his death, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
"Our agency and the citizens of Tulsa County honor Sgt. Harris for his sacrifice," the office said. "Sgt. Harris joined the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office in 2009. At the time of his death, he was the Sergeant over our Officer Assistance Program, which he helped to establish. This program has provided counseling and mental health services to not only our own employees, but also to hundreds of law enforcement officers at agencies across the state."
Harris is survived by a wife and four children, TCSO said. The office posted a video of his body being escorted to a funeral home by hundreds of police vehicles Thursday evening.
The statement did not indicate whether or not Harris had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Tulsa Police Ofc. Jerad Lindsey, also head of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police, died of COVID-19 in October at the age of 40.
COVID-19 killed more U.S. law enforcement officers in 2020 than all other causes of death combined, according to a database maintained by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Nearly half of all law enforcement officer deaths from Jan. 1 through June 30 of 2021 were from COVID-19.
