NYPD Officer Succumbs to Swine Flu

BY Patrice O'Shaughnessy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

At the height of the tumult over swine flu late last spring - when city schools were shut and people donned masks on the streets after a Queens educator died of it - Barbara Johnson's son, Ryan, a Brooklyn cop, fell ill with what seemed like the seasonal flu.
Through the summer, as the panic over the H1N1 virus subsided, Ryan was quietly battling for his life, on and off a respirator, in and out of comas, until he died on Aug. 7 - of swine flu.
His lungs were ravaged; he had acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and suffered cardiopulmonary arrest. He had just turned 27. He is the first NYPD cop to die of swine flu. Full Story