LAPD’s first police officer to die of coronavirus honored by pregnant ‘soulmate’

Valentin Martinez (L) and his domestic partner Megan Flynn. (LAPD)

The pregnant partner of a veteran Los Angeles police officer who died last month from coronavirus complications spoke at his funeral of their “fantasy” turned “tragic love story.”

Megan Flynn, the domestic partner of 13-year LAPD veteran Valentin Martinez, spoke at the 45-year-old’s funeral in the Hollywood Hills Thursday, which was attended by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, KABC reports.

“Val, maybe our fantasy love story has turned into a tragic love story,” she said, trying not to cry. “But the years we shared together will forever be the best years of my life. You are my soulmate.”

Flynn is pregnant with the couple’s twin boys, who are due in November, and, speaking about their father, vowed “to love you forever” and “never stop.”

She added that her twins would be honest, kind men like the late Martinez, who died July 24.

Martinez worked patrol with the LAPD’s Mission division and according to the department — which has seen more than 450 cases of COVID-19 among employees — likely contracted the disease on patrol.

After testing positive in late May, a GoFundMe for his family notes Martinez battled the virus at home for a week before he was rushed to the Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita, about 33 miles northwest of L.A. On June 10, he was transferred to the ICU at Santa Monica’s Providence Saint John’s Health Center, where he was put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine “as his symptoms grew more dire.”

“Val fought for his life every hour,” the page reads.