Two widows of Metro officers are demanding answers from Joe Lombardo after he refused to designate their husbands’ deaths as line of duty, denying them of honors and benefits such as full health insurance coverage, full sick leave payout, and a potential $25,000 life insurance payment. Their families, reeling from losing a loved one and now left without health insurance, have yet to receive an explanation from Lombardo. Lombardo didn’t even have the decency to call and give his condolences to the women until weeks after their husbands passed. Both LVMPD and Lombardo’s campaign have refused to answer questions about his decision.
Lombardo has already been under fire for politicizing COVID-19 and failing to keep his officers and the communities they serve safe. Now he’s treating their families with irreverence and demonstrating just how little he cares for his officers.
KSNV: “We welcome and urge the sheriff as a public official, as well as someone who’s running for another public office, to share his decisions and thoughts on this. Our invitation for an interview still stands…”
KSNV: Las Vegas police widows question why husbands’ COVID deaths not considered line of duty
Lauren Clark
May 27, 2022
Key Points:
- Both Officer Closi and Sgt. King served their community proudly as police officers until they died from COVID-19 just weeks apart in August 2021.
- Each widow says their husband worked their jobs before becoming ill with COVID. Both Closi and King assumed their husband’s deaths would be considered in line of duty, bringing honors and benefits. But that didn’t happen. And they say that when they pressed for answers as to why, they got nothing.
- “I never received any information after that. There was no follow-up, there was no communication,” said Closi.
- “They wouldn’t give me any reason on how they came to the determination,” said King. “Health and Safety wouldn’t give me anything in writing, so we couldn’t even fight it.”
- Earlier this month, the Southern Nevada Law Enforcement Ceremony honored four officers’ lives lost in the line of duty, including Officer Jason Swanger and Lt. Erik Lloyd, both of whom died from COVID.
- “We just want to be treated the same. I don’t understand why that’s not happening,” said Closi.
- Closi and King say it’s still unclear why those officers’ deaths and the deaths of their husbands are classified differently.
- We also asked both LVMPD and Lombardo’s gubernatorial campaign if the sheriff would like to explain these decisions. His campaign directed News 3 to LVMPD, which didn’t respond to requests for an interview or statement from the sheriff.
- As of right now, Sheriff Lombardo hasn’t given News 3 any answers or statements, but the invitation for an interview still stands.
- Currently, both have a change.org petition to get attention out for their cause. They say this move would be closure for their families.
Read the full story here.
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