Funeral held for ex-NYPD cop who saved boy from drowning

A retired New York City police detective who died after saving a boy from drowning in Puerto Rico has been given a funeral befitting a hero.

The Times Herald-Record of Middletown reports that about 500 people packed St. Mary's Church in Washingtonville, Orange County, for Jose Rosario's funeral Thursday. Six NYPD officers served as pallbearers and a NYPD flag was draped over Rosario's coffin.

Rosario was vacationing in Puerto Rico with his family late last month when he saw a 12-year-old boy struggling in rough surf off a beach on the island's northwest coast. The 44-year-old Rosario got the boy onto a rock but then was swept out to sea by a wave. His body was recovered two days later.

Rosario joined the NYPD in 1990 and retired as a detective in 2011.