A Dallas police officer who served many years as a campus officer at Lake Highlands High School has reportedly died of COVID-19 complications.
According to a FOX 4 News report, officer Christopher Gibson of the Dallas Police Department was a fixture at Lake Highlands High School. The school is located in Dallas but is part of the Richardson Independent School District.
Mike Mata, the president of the Dallas Police Association, described Gibson as a monument at Lake Highlands High School. Mata said several educators, teachers, and principals reached out to him, telling him how much they cared about Gibson and how much the students liked him.
Gibson, who died after only one day in the hospital, became the seventh person from the Dallas Police Department to die of COVID-19, according to FOX 4 News. He had been with the department for 24 years.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, many Texas police and fire departments have been hit hard by COVID-19, Dallas included.
“They are here every day putting their lives at risk for what they normally would do and in addition to that exposing themselves to what’s there,” said Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia in an interview with FOX 4 News.
However, Garcia added that the department is trying to maintain protocols and be safe amidst the latest surge of COVID-19.
“We are seeing a spike in numbers. We are keeping an eye on it and we are trying to be very, very careful,” Garcia said in the interview.
Gibson’s death was a shocking and heartbreaking loss to all those his life had impacted. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
