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NC senior detention officer dies after battling COVID-19

Alexander Reginald Pettiway, 55, worked with the Durham County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years

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Pettiway died from acute hypoxic respiratory failure.

Photo/Durham County Sheriff’s Office

By Sarah Calams

DURHAM, N.C. — A senior detention officer died April 25 from COVID-19 complications.

MyFox8.com reported that Alexander Reginald Pettiway, 55, worked with the Durham County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years. He died from acute hypoxic respiratory failure.

“Losing a member of our Sheriff’s Office family is never something you are prepared for,” DCSO Sheriff Clarence Birkhead said. “We will come together to support each other and Senior Officer Pettiway’s family as they deal with this great loss.”

Pettiway leaves behind his sister, brother, niece, four nephews and an aunt.

“To say he will be missed does not do justice to what any of us are feeling at this moment. Officer Pettiway was a unique, gentle soul and loved by us all,” Major Cynthia Kornegay wrote in a letter sent to DCSO staff.

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