Nelson Perdomo, 44, of Middlesex County, was admitted to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge Township last month with a high fever and placed on a ventilator.
“He lost his battle with this terrible virus,” the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association said in a Facebook post on Friday.
More than $21,000 was raised on a GoFundMe page for Perdomo's family as of Friday morning.
The state PBA plans to honor Perdomo in a vehicle procession starting at 2 p.m. Friday at Brunswick Square Mall on Route 18 in East Brunswick and drive past his family’s home. “Please, when you arrive, stay in your vehicle,” the PBA said.
“He was a hero, a friend, and a brother to us all and will be missed dearly,” Aponte wrote in announcing his friend’s death.
“It is hard to find the words to express how devastating this all seems,” Aponte said on the GoFundMe page. “And no words can ever express to his wife Fanny and to his three kids Emma, Maya, and Tito, how sorry we are or how sad we feel for this untimely and tragic loss.”
Perdomo is at least the second NJ corrections officer to die from COVID-19.
Bernard Waddell Sr., 56, died after contracting the coronavirus, the New Jersey State PBA announced on April 2. Waddell, who was a 28-year veteran, worked in the Hudson County Correctional Facility.
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