Benny Napoleon, Michigan Sheriff and Ex-Detroit Police Chief, Dies at 65
Sheriff Napoleon served for more than a decade in the Michigan county that includes Detroit, and ran unsuccessfully for the city’s mayor.
Sheriff Benny Napoleon of Wayne County, Mich., died Thursday after testing positive for the coronavirus.Credit.Joshua Lott for The New York Times
Published Dec. 18, 2020Updated March 19, 2021
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others
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WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. Benny Napoleon, the sheriff of Wayne County in Michigan and a former Detroit police chief who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of the city, died on Thursday in a hospital there. He was 65.
Who was Benny Napoleon and how did Wayne County sheriff die?
Updated: 18 Dec 2020, 12:07
WAYNE County Sheriff Benny Napoleon died at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday December 17, 2020.
But how did the 65-year-old Detroit police chief, who contracted Covid-19, pass away?
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WAYNE County Sheriff Benny Napoleon died at the Henry Ford Hospital on Thursday December 17, 2020 after battling Covid-19Credit: Wayne County
Who was Benny Napoleon?
He was one of seven children.
He attended Cass Technical High School before receiving degrees from the University of Detroit and the Detroit College of Law.
He then joined the Detroit Police Department in 1975 and began rising through the ranks.