BOSTON (WHDH) - A large procession of law enforcement officials in cruisers and on motorcycles escorted the body of a veteran Boston police officer who died after a battle with coronavirus earlier this week from Boston Medical Center to a funeral home in Jamaica Plain on Thursday afternoon.
Officer Jose Fontanez, 53, passed away Tuesday after a “valiant and courageous” battle with COVID-19, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said.
Dozens of officers escorted the body of their fallen colleague from the campus of Boston Medical Center to the Mann & Rodgers Funeral Home.
Fontanez, a 29-year veteran, had served District E-13 in Jamaica Plain since 1996.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh called Fontanez’s death a “devastating blow to the city” and said that he was a man who was devoted to his four children and grandchild.
Due to social distancing guidelines, Boston police officers sporting masks spaced out along the procession route with their blue lights activated to solute Fontanez. Under normal circumstances, they would have gathered in ranks outside the hospital.
The procession went down Albany Steet with bagpipes echoing from afar, turned on to Melnea Cass Boulevard and then Tremont Street before passing Boston Police Headquarters on Ruggles Street and proceeding past District E-13 on Green Street.
“We honor him and remember him as a hero because as a police officer, he served our community and he stood in harm’s way to protect us,” Walsh said of Fontanez. “He made the ultimate sacrifice.”
As of Tuesday, 67 Boston police officers had tested positive for coronavirus, according to Gross. Some have since recovered and returned to work.
Gross also said that police stations across the city have been thoroughly cleaned.
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