Benjamin Ashford|Man training to become police officer dies after collapsing during run

KNOXVILLE,Benjamin Ashford Tenn. (AP) — A man training to become a police officer in Tennessee has died after collapsing during a run, officials said.

Wisbens Antoine, 32, was part of a recruit class that began training in September for the Knoxville Police Department and was scheduled to be sworn in on March 4, Chief Paul Noel said in a statement.

He collapsed Friday during routine physical training at the end of a run for unknown reasons and was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, the statement said. He died early Sunday with family and loved ones surrounding him.

“I don’t have words to express the magnitude of the grief and sadness that we all are feeling right now,” Noel said Sunday during a press conference.

Noel said he swore Antoine in as an officer in his hospital bed before his death. Since he wasn’t responsive, another recruit answered for him and his badge was placed over his heart, the chief said.

“While he’ll never get that opportunity to walk across the stage with his class, he earned the right to be called a Knoxville Police Department officer, and we were not going to let anything, any circumstance take that away from him,” Noel said.