The SFPD is mourning the loss of 30-year-old cadet Jon-Marques Psalms, who suffered a medical emergency during a training exercise last week, and died on Friday. He was honored with a Monday procession.

In a heartbreaking blow to the SF Police Department, as a 30-year-old new recruit who was joining the department suffered a medical emergency last Wednesday, was hospitalized, and died on Friday, according to KTVU. Recruit Officer Jon-Marques Psalms was a Southern California native who attended college in Louisiana, moved to the Bay Area to work in the tech industry, and shifted to law enforcement before his life was cut short.


"The death of a recruit at the academy is incredibly unusual and tragic. This is the first death of a recruit during training that the SFPD is aware of," the SFPD said in a Friday night statement. “The entire SFPD, Recruit Class 286, and Psalms’ family and friends are struggling with this tragedy."


There was a Monday SFPD procession to honor Recruit Officer Psalms, which is seen above.

The SFPD has not acknowledged the nature of Psalms's medical emergency, nor the specific training exercise during which the incident occurred. We don’t know if the emergency was caused by the training exercise, though the department says the training activity was mandatory for recruit officers under the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements.

Still, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is investigating this as a workplace death. The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet determined or announced Psalms's cause of death.

"As I’ve spoken to Recruit Officer Psalms’ parents over the past couple of painful days, they told me about the sense of purpose he found from his work and his squad of fellow recruits," SF Mayor Danniel Lurie said in his own statement. "He was so looking forward to graduating with all of them and joining the ranks of the SFPD. His dedication to the city will never be forgotten by his fellow recruit officers, our police department, and a grateful city."

Related: SFPD Mourns Unexpected Loss of 29-Year-Old Officer [SFist]

Image: @SFPD via Twitter