By Courtney Dentch
A police officer assigned to the 113th Precinct in South Jamaica died last week, five days after he collapsed from an apparent brain aneurysm while chasing a suspect, police said.
Officer Disdale Enton, 34, of Elmont was declared brain dead Tuesday, and he was removed from life support Thursday after his organs were harvested for donation.
Enton had gone in to work an overtime shift before his regular tour started Aug. 23. He and his partner were responding to a call for assistance by the detective squad to apprehend a man wanted for a domestic violence complaint at about 10 p.m.
The pair chased the suspect, running through backyards when they lost him, police said. The officers started walking out of a backyard at 163-13 Baisley Blvd. when Enton fell to the ground.
He never regained consciousness.
Enton joined the force and the 113th Precinct four years ago and was hoping to join the Aviation Unit, said Police Officer Jovoda Cooper, community affairs officer at the 113th. It was unknown if Enton had any pre-existing medical condition that may have led to the apparent aneurysm, she said.
Enton worked the midnight to 3 a.m. shift, and like the day he collapsed, he often went in early to earn overtime by working the taxi and livery patrol, Cooper said. On that patrol, Enton and his partner, Officer Taiwo Miller, checked on cab and livery drivers in the area to make sure they were safe, she said.
The officer was popular among his colleagues at the 113th Precinct, and especially among the officers who worked the overnight shift with him, Cooper said.
“That shift is a smaller group of guys – they’re very tight,” she said. “He was a really nice guy.”
Enton, who was raised in Brooklyn, lived in Elmont with his longtime girlfriend and had no children, Cooper said. He owned his own plane and was working to refine his piloting skills. He had worked for Federal Express before joining the police force.
The funeral was arranged for the family by the Police Department, Cooper said. A wake was scheduled for Tuesday night at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Flatbush. The funeral was to be held Wednesday at the church, with burial at Frederick Douglass Cemetery on Staten Island.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
