North Little Rock police Sgt. J.L. "Buck" Dancy contracted covid-19 during a police incident that led to several law enforcement officers from multiple agencies testing positive, North Little Rock Police Chief Tracy Roulston said Thursday.
Dancy died Wednesday from covid-19.
While the chief would not give specific information about the incident, he said the department used contact tracing to determine when Dancy contracted the virus.
"We used contact tracing just like everyone else, and we've been able to verify through that process that there's no doubt that that's where he ended up making contact," Roulston said. "Because I've had about seven or eight officers that tested positive out of this one incident, so there was no doubt."
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According to the Arkansas Department of Health, contact tracing is used to find people who were in contact within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes of a person who tested positive for covid-19.
Contacts with symptoms are told to get tested while contacts without symptoms are asked to quarantine for up to two weeks.
While not a perfect system, according to Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick, contact tracing can in certain situations reliably trace cases.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, North Little Rock police have had more than 30 officers test positive for covid-19, Roulston said.
Dancy's death is the first covid-19 death in the North Little Rock Police Department and the first death of an officer in the line of duty because of the virus in Arkansas, according to North Little Rock police.
On Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson ordered the flags to fly at half-staff until Tuesday to honor Dancy.
"He wasn't shy about his faith in God, and his faith guided his life," Hutchinson said. "He was a father figure and a mentor to younger officers. His death is a great loss to the department and to the city. I offer my condolences to his family, friends, and his fellow officers."
Dancy was a couple of months away from retiring and had bought a lake house just a few months ago, according to department members, including Lt. Brian Dedrick who worked on the homicide unit with him.
"We had all planned on going up there and celebrating his retirement and just be with him," Dedrick said. "He was going to retire in January, and we're just devastated."
Roulston said that in the wake of Dancy's death, the department is making sure officers are reminded to wear their masks and adhere to social distancing when possible.
"We're trying to do everything we can to make sure we're following everything," Roulston said. "We try to remind everybody daily, weekly, because every now and again, you just forget to put your mask on."
While personal protective equipment would ideally be worn in all cases, the requirements of law enforcement make that impossible at times, Roulston said.
"There's still risk on some of these incidents that take place," Roulston said. "If you're apprehending somebody or having a foot chase or whatever you're doing, the mask and all that, who knows where that's going to end up."
Other law enforcement agencies in Pulaski County took notice of Dancy's death, with the Little Rock Police Department and Pulaski County sheriff's office tweeting out condolences to the family and North Little Rock department.
Spokesmen from those departments said no major covid-19 safety protocol changes have been made because of Dancy's death.
"We're still doing the same things that we've implemented," sheriff 's office spokesman Lt. Robert Garrett said. "That occurrence hasn't changed anything."
Little Rock police spokesman Mark Edwards said his department would continue to make sure that at every staff meeting officers are told to wear their masks.
"Just about every meeting every week we pass the word out that all the officers need to make sure they're wearing their masks," Edwards said.
Dedrick said he talked to Dancy right before Dancy tested positive and again before he went to the hospital.
"When he went to the hospital, I guess we were kind of shocked, and the whole time I guess, as far as the homicide [unit] and the detective division, we were devastated," Dedrick said. "But we really just thought at the time that he would do better, and be out a few days and quarantine, and then he would be back to work."
He said he was in contact with Dancy's daughter, Rebecca, and another detective close to the family hours before Dancy died and heard the news of his death before most others did.
"A couple days ago, his daughter texted me and said that things weren't going as well. ... At that point and time we were just getting updates from her," Dedrick said. "And they were going to do an MRI and see what's going on. About 10:30 [Tuesday] night, I received a phone call from one of the investigators that was in contact with his daughter, and they didn't think he was going to make it, and at that point and time, we just started praying."
Dedrick said he received a call that Dancy had died around 1:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.
On Thursday, Dedrick recalled one of the final phone calls he had with Dancy as hope seemed to wane.
"We were out on a scene where someone had lost their life, and he called me out of the blue from the hospital, and I said 'Buck, how are you?'" Dedrick said. "He said 'I need you to be my point man.' And I think he was telling me then, I could tell by his voice, he was worried, and I said 'of course I'll be your point man. I'll be with you always.'"
Detective Lonnell Tims worked on the late shift with Dancy and said he got a lot of support from the sergeant.
"He was a listening ear," Tims said. "We had spirited discussions about our faith. We had Bible study. We had political discussions. Sometimes it gets spirited, but he'd hug me and tell me he loved me."
Tims used to joke with Dancy that he was Tims' work husband. News of Dancy's death hit Tims hard.
"I just sat in the car, and I just cried," Tims said. "And you know it was a tough day, but I know he would want us to keep pushing, and you know we've got work to do. We've got cases to solve."
Roulston worked with Dancy early in their careers in the department. He said Dancy had a good work ethic and a calming personality.
"He loved his job. He loved to work," Roulston said. "[For] 35 years, you don't do that if you don't love coming to work. He still loved coming to work, but he had a really good positive vibe about him, which is kind of unusual.
"The way he could come into a place, you know these guys deal with negative stuff on a regular basis. He could just kind of come in. He was very patient, and he was extremely compassionate."
