Funeral held for Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon

(FOX 2) - A private funeral was held Wednesday for Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, who died earlier this month at the age of 65 after contracting COVID-19. 

The funeral was livestreamed courtesy of Swanson Funeral Home. You can watch the service in the video player below or on Facebook here. 

The community came together earlier in the week to pay their respects to the sheriff at public visitations on Monday and Tuesday. 

Napoleon had been placed on a ventilator in late November after contracting COVID-19. He died Dec. 17. 

Napoleon's brother Hilton Napoleon, the Highland Park police chief, also contracted COVID-19. He was hospitalized for 71 days before recovering. Benny is one of five siblings - four of whom have had the coronavirus.

Wayne County Sheriffs have been hit hard by the coronavirus, with three deputies and a commander all dying since March and more than 200 deputies testing positive since then. 

A lifelong resident of the city, Napoleon was a fixture in Detroit and in law enforcement. He entered the police academy in 1975 and rose through the ranks to eventually become police chief under Mayor Dennis Archer from 1998 to 2001. In 2004 he was assistant Wayne County executive and has been sheriff since 2009.