Melissa Bailey File Photo
New Haven firefighters are setting up a scholarship fund in the name of one of their own who died early Sunday.
Hamden police found the firefighter, Linda Cohens (pictured), lying face-down on a sidewalk outside her home at 3 a.m., with a head injury, and are investigating the death. A neighbor had flagged down a police officer who happened to be in the neighborhood doing a “safety check” to report seeing a woman lying on the ground, according to Hamden Police Sgt. Michael Cirillo. Cohens, who was 50 years old, was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Cirillo said the police investigation is in the preliminary stages.
Firefighters union President Jimmy Kottage called Cohens’ death “a tragedy for the department.”
“She had so much positive energy. She would always light up the room with love and laughs,” Kottage said of Cohens, who worked as a firefighter paramedic. “In her honor we’re setting up a scholarship for her granddaughter, Brandy.” (Click here for information on how to donate.)
Cohens’ son Brendan died in 2008 when he was hit by a train.
Firefighter Erika Bogan helped organize Brendan’s funeral.
“I would have never guessed I would be planning hers [Linda Cohens’] too,” Bogan said Sunday. She said she was devastated by the news of Cohens’ death. Bogan attended the fire academy with Cohens; the only two black women in the class, they became friends, and their sons grew up together.
“As soon as she came in a room, you were getting a hug no matter what. That’s who she was,” Bogan said.
“She’d give everybody a hug and a kiss,” agreed fire Lt. Gary Tinney, of the Firebirds and International Association of Black Firefighters. Cohens belonged to both organizations. Tinney said she was one of only a small number of black female paramedics in the country. “She was a pioneer,” he said. “She was a great mentor.”
Cohens’ father, Odell Cohens, is a retired New Haven police captain.
She helped save many lives, said Lt. Frank Ricci. He provided this video, where Cohens appears in the first scene attending to a heart-attack victim.