A 37-year-old North Texas police officer died recently--not from fighting crime and criminals, but from a flesh-eating bacterial infection.

Officer Johnnie Jones with the Northeast Police Department in Denton County was seemingly healthy last Wednesday, but died Monday.

"He picked me up from work last Wednesday afternoon, and he was complaining that he didn't feel good -- he was kind of tired and that his leg was hurting,” Jones' wife April told KDFW TV.

Last Thursday, April took Jones to Denton Regional Medical Center. He'd gotten sicker, and doctors soon told her just how sick. "They said that he contracted a bacterial flesh eating infection," said April.

“I mean, I've asked the doctors, you know, tons of questions. How could he have possibly contracted this? And every doctor that came into his room told me it could be a million and one different reasons he contracted it.”

Northeast Police Chief James Egland says Jones was one of only eight in the small police department, adding that the department is simply devastated over Jones' untimely death.

A GoFundMe care fund has been established for April and her 5-year-old daughter.