died on National Guard deployment in the Mideast<\/a>, drew Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to pay their last respects \u2013 but it was his daughter who brought the crowd to their feet.<\/p>\n\u201cHe may have served in the NYPD, many called him Major Davius, but he will always be my dad,\u201d Davius\u2019 daughter Ayva tearfully read from a letter on behalf of his six kids, drawing a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
Sorffly Davius, an NYPD cop and National Guard solider, died in Kuwait. National Guard<\/p>\n
Davius\u2019 daughter Ayva eulogized him Friday. Paul Martinka for New York Post<\/p>\n
Davius suffered a fatal medical episode on March 6 while deployed in Kuwait for Operation Epic Fury, the US military campaign against Iran.<\/p>\n
The heartrending tragedy snatched a born \u201cprotector\u201d from Davius\u2019 family, New York and beyond, Hochul told the funeral crowd inside Christian Cultural Center in Starrett City. <\/p>\n
Hundreds of mourners packed into the center\u2019s ground floor as the governor listed Davius\u2019 many roles as a public servant: an FDNY EMT, NYPD officer, Air National Guard airman and Army National Guard solider.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy God, his closet must be filled with so many uniforms,\u201d she marveled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was part of that elite group of people touched by God\u2019s message to all of us: don\u2019t just come to earth and take up space, come to earth and make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davius was born on Christmas Day in Haiti and came to his adopted home of New York City at 13 years old, settling in Jamaica, Queens, said National Guard Col. Jeffrey Roth.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven as a kid, he stood out, smart, driven, generous, maybe a little too generous at times,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne older boy once told Soffrly to do his homework. This went on until one day, Soffrly decided he had him down. I can picture him, a young man, telling that bigger kid, \u2018Look, genius, I\u2019m not doing your homework anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The funeral drew Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Paul Martinka for New York Post<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul was on hand to pay her respects. Paul Martinka for New York Post<\/p>\n
Mourners remember Davius. Paul Martinka for New York Post<\/p>\n
Hundreds attended Davius\u2019 funeral in Brooklyn. Paul Martinka for New York Post<\/p>\n
Davius was married to the love of his life, Angeline, with whom he had six children. <\/p>\n
His final deployment to Kuwait \u2014 for which he took leave from the NYPD \u2014 had put a hardship on Angeline, so he sent her a regular sum of money, Roth said. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust last week, she received another allowance. Clearly, he had set up another auto payment. The memo read, \u2018For your hard work,\u201d Roth said, breaking down in tears.<\/p>\n
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Davius never shied from hard assignments, whether as an EMT, an FDNY rescue paramedic or solider.<\/p>\n
She said the fallen officer, decorated solider, husband and father performed the work of a \u201cpeacemaker in places where peace does not come easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t always know what your life will mean to other people, but with Davius, there is no question he left his mark on everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him, and in that, he leaves something that endures,\u201d Tisch said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was the Finest. The funeral for NYPD cop Sorffly Davius, 46, who tragically died on National Guard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10687,5302,426,62688,57,5435,9,11,10,63,103,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-177833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-funeral","9":"tag-jessica-tisch","10":"tag-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-kuwait","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-national-guard","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nypd","19":"tag-us-news","20":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}