BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – Bainbridge police officer Kurt Enget died Friday after being treated for symptoms that presented similar to COVID-19, the city of Bainbridge Island announced.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, an emotional Bainbridge Island City Manager Morgan Smith said that Enget was hospitalized on Sunday at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, where he died, she said. Enget had showed symptoms of COVID-19 before he died, Smith said, noting that the Kitsap County Coroner's Office will determine his cause of death.

"Unfortunately, Officer Enget’s condition worsened rapidly," she said. "It was something that while he had been ill for a while, his hospitalization and deterioration occurred quite quickly."

While a coronavirus diagnosis has not been confirmed, Smith said, "This loss is another reminder of the danger of COVID-19 and the devastating impacts to our city, our region and the entire world. Numbers that we're hearing every day are more than statistics. Each one represents a friend, a family member, a neighbor or a colleague. For each death reported, there's a personal story. And now for Bainbridge Island, the story of what is happening across the world is also our own story, of sadness and grief."

Enget, 49, had been on the island's police force for five years and became the department's K9 officer last year as he worked with Whitney, a new tracking bloodhound.

"There's no real way to soft-pedal it," interim Police Chief Scott Weiss said. "Everybody's hurting. All the officers are having to deal with the loss of a friend and a family member. Everybody's processing that, each in their own way."

In announcing Enget's death, the city noted that he was the first member of the department to die in the line of duty. Enget's last day on duty was March 27.

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"We do not have any information about possible exposure at this time because it’s unclear if Ofc. Enget had COVID-19," the city said in its initial announcement.

Early Friday morning, a large procession of law enforcement and emergency vehicles escorted Enget's body from the hospital to the Kitsap County Coroner's Office, which will conduct a death investigation. Weiss said with roughly an hour's notice, 50 to 60 law enforcement agencies were represented in the escort line. He's received emails from agencies all over the country, he said.

"The word spread quickly," Weiss said. "People knew Kurt and they came to pay their respects. I think that says a lot."

Weiss said a memorial service will be planned at a later date.

Kitsap County Coroner Jeff Wallis said an autopsy will be conduced on Monday. Enget was tested for COVID-19 at the hospital but those results have not come back yet, Wallis said, noting that his office will also do its own testing as part of its investigation.

Wallis said his office is investigating the death because Enget was an "otherwise healthy" individual under 60 and died under unexpected, unexplained circumstances.

Enget was a 1989 graduate of South Kitsap High School. He worked for 18 years as a Safeway employee before pivoting to jump into law enforcement in 2005 at the Suquamish Police Department. He joined the Bainbridge department in 2017.

"He was a happy-go-lucky type of guy," Weiss said. "He would give you the shirt off his back. I don't know how else to put it. He was everybody's friend. He's going to be sorely missed, I'll tell you that."

When the Kitsap Sun spoke with Enget about working with his new partner one year ago, he was excited about the prospect of being a K9 officer, something he had wanted to pursue for a while, he said then. He spoke of getting used to working with Whitney in exercises around the island and using her to help in tracks in other communities, too.

Enget regularly used a cloth to wipe up the river of drool that dribbled from the bloodhound's maw. While Whitney would ride in the back of his police vehicle, Enget noted then that a window could slide open, "so she can come up front and slobber all over me."

"You try to reign them in a little bit, but not too much because you don’t want to take their drive away," he said. "It’s an experience, that’s for sure. I’m super excited."

Enget's role as a K9 officer had him speaking in schools regularly or appearing in public with Whitney. Weiss recalled a large crowd surrounding the two at the department's National Night Out event in August last year.

"He was a big hit and so was Whitney," Weiss said. "I don’t know which was the bigger hit."

Said Smith: "We are a small town and almost all of our police cars look the same, but I could always tell when Officer Enget was the one parked in the parking lot at Safeway or somewhere else, because his car would have Whitney in it and that would have a crowd around it. He was very generous with letting kids especially that they ran across, take time with her, almost every day."

Enget is survived by his wife, Yevette, three children and two grandchildren, according to the city's announcement.

The department's guild has established a fund to support Enget's family. For more information, visit gofundme.com/f/bipg-support-for-kurt-and-yvette-enget. Donations poured in on Friday in the hours after the fundraiser was announced. Pledges neared $30,000 mid-Friday afternoon.

"He was well-known in our community for his excellent level of service, his friendly and approachable demeanor, and for serving as the department's K9 handler with his partner, Whitney," officers from the guild wrote on the fundraising page. "Kurt has been there to help our community in any way he could whenever called upon to do so. Now he needs our help in his absence."

Said Smith, the city manager, at the press conference: "I'd like to share with those watching and listening today and remind you that what you do each day matters to others now more than ever. The daily decisions that you make may mean putting yourself at risk and, by association, others. Please do what you can to support Gov. Inslee's 'Stay Home, Stay Healthy' order and do everything possible to keep yourself and your neighbor safe."

From 2019:Meet K9 Whitney, a nosy new officer for the Bainbridge Island Police Department

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

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