An officer from the NYPD 23rd Precinct stationhouse fell ill and was sent to the hospital for tests. (ANTHONY DELMUNDO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
A new cooling tower was installed in the building in May, but it has not been turned on yet and has been ruled out as a source of the Legionnaires’, health officials said.
The precinct’s hot water supply has been shut off as a safety measure and city health inspectors were on scene Saturday taking samples from the indoor plumbing, authorities said. The outcome of that testing, as well as an air quality check are outstanding.
“It’s an interim precaution,” said a high-ranking police source with knowledge of the case. “We are running tests, but so far no one else has gotten sick.”
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association hired a private firm to run tests which came back positive for traces of the bacteria, according to police. (RICHARD HARBUS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
The source added that another officer in the precinct worried that they also caught the disease, but it was only the flu.
Prisoners are not being held in the stationhouse cells while the city agencies finish their investigation, sources said.
The sick officer is recovering at a hospital outside of the city, according to a source.
Legionnaires’ disease killed a dozen New Yorkers and sickened another 127 during a 2015 outbreak in the South Bronx.
WITH ROCCO PARASCANDOLA