A New York State Court Officer recruit died after falling ill during a training run in Brooklyn less than five days into the academy, sources said.
Saul Castro, 29, was out for a run near the NYS Court Officers Academy located at 541 St. Johns Place near Classon Ave. in Crown Heights when he started having trouble breathing Friday morning, according to sources within NY State Courts.
Medics ferried the trainee to a local hospital, where he died the next day.
“We feel horrible for the family, horrible for the situation,” said Stephen Mikos, president of the NY State Court Officers Association.
Temperatures peaked at 85 degrees in New York City on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The office of the city’s medical examiner will determine Castro’s cause of death.
Castro began the recruitment process to become an officer with NYS Courts about six months ago, but he wasn’t sworn in at the academy until the Monday before he fell ill, according to sources.
In the short time he was at the academy, Castro built a reputation as someone his fellow recruits could rely on, a source said.
“By what his fellow classmates were saying about him, he was highly regarded by his other classmates. He was an immediate role model,” the source said. “It’s an academy, it’s a process. Some people excel, they’re leaders, and very early on people in his class ID’d him as someone they look up to.”
Castro was participating in an assessment run meant to determine his overall fitness level when he fell ill.
Records show that Castro earned a 90.5 on last year’s entrance exam for the court officers academy, placing 2,138 out of the more than 14,500 people who took the test.