Metro sergeant, 36, is 6th department employee to die of COVID-19

A 36-year-old Las Vegas police sergeant has died from complications of COVID-19, marking at least the sixth Metropolitan Police Department employee to succumb to the disease, the department announced Tuesday.

Douglas King, a second generation Metro officer who worked in the department’s Summerlin patrol area, died Monday, according to a statement from Metro.

King was scheduled to receive a Metro medal of honor in November during the department’s annual Best of the Badge awards gala, which honors officers for distinguishing themselves in the line of duty.

“He was a well-liked sergeant who was known for his great personality and uplifting disposition,” Metro said in the statement.

King is survived by his wife and fellow Metro employee, Cinnamon; his daughters Scarlett, Tommi and Hannah; his granddaughter Marley; his grandmother Joann; his father John; his mother Denise; his brother Josh; and his sister Kaylee.

The first known Metro employee to die of the coronavirus was Lt. Erik Lloyd, 53, who died on July 29, 2020.

Following Lloyd’s death, civilian employee John Melwak, 70, died on Oct. 23; retired detective Michael Karstedt, 70, died on Jan. 3; officer Jason Swanger, 41, died on June 24; and Officer Philip Closi, 48, died earlier this month after 21 years with the department.

It’s unknown if King, Closi or Swanger were vaccinated. Metro does not disclose the vaccination status of those who have died from the disease because of a federal privacy law that protects personal health information.

In an interview with the Review-Journal last week, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said he was not planning to mandate that Metro employees get vaccinated, despite calling the department’s vaccination rate of 52 percent “unacceptable.”

“I wish it was higher obviously,” he said. “I’m not in a position to mandate it. I think it’s unfortunate, and we’ve done a great deal of proactive steps to try and convince the workforce to get the vaccine. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten to the numbers we wish it was at.”

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.