For the second time in four days, loved ones gathered to mourn a Philadelphia police officer who died from COVID-19.
A funeral was held Monday morning at Deliverance Evangelistic Church for Sgt. Jose Novoa. Novoa passed away on June 3 due to complications from the novel coronavirus. He was 62-years-old.
Novoa was an officer in the 9th District who served for 27 years. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.
“Sergeant Novoa was the embodiment of devotion, the model of bravery and the essence of courage,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said during Novoa’s service.
Novoa is survived by a wife, two daughters and two granddaughters.
An officer gifted Novoa’s wife with a plaque dedicated to his service. Before Monday’s funeral, she said her final goodbye to her husband, tucking in the sides of his casket before pallbearers closed it.
Outlaw told Novoa’s relatives that the men and women he served with are family as well who would be there for support.
“To Sergeant Novoa, farewell my dear brother,” Outlaw said. “You were a loving husband, caring father.”
On Friday, a funeral was held for another Philadelphia officer, Lieutenant James Walker. Walker, who was posthumously promoted to Captain, died back in April after being infected by the coronavirus.
Walker was the first known Philadelphia cop to succumb to COVID-19 and Mayor Jim Kenney said he was the first city employee to die from the virus. Walker was 59 years old and he worked as a police officer for 33 years.
