The family of a Brooklyn girl who died after a police officer allegedly failed to help her are renewing their calls for justice.
Michael and Carmen Ojeda, the parents of 11-year-old Briana Ojeda who died on August 27 from an asthma attack, are demanding an independent criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct.
Officer Alfonso Mendez was already suspended for failing to take proper police action.
Briana’s parents are now proposing legislation that would mandate every officer be trained and recertified annually in CPR and first aid.
The law would also punish officers who refuse to give emergency medical assistance.
“If every police officer, every police officer was recertificate in the CPR, then I will guarantee you that we would not be standing here at this moment,” said State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz.
Police say officers are trained in the technique and CPR refresher courses are offered every two years, but they may not be mandatory.
Briana’s mother was driving her daughter to the hospital when she was stopped by Mendez for driving the wrong way up a one-way street.
She says Mendez boxed her in and claimed not to know CPR.
(Source: NY1)
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2 Responses
I dont usually comment on the news but i think there is something very important that we can all learn from this tradgedy. Any parent that has a child that is not well should know CPR. If a child is that sick we should not count on bumping into a police officer to save the child. Sometimes a parent can be too worked up to do cpr on their own child in an emergency but it is still so important for a parent to know. And even if Baruch Hashem we have healthy children we should all know what to do when a child chokes chas vshalom. Lets hope we never have to use it but we should all know it.
This child died from Asthma. CPR is futile in cases of asthma. CPR would have wasted more time in getting her to the hospital, and she would still be dead.
This officer when told what was going on, called an ambulance, and then followed her lights and siren to the hospital. Had the mother just called 911 and waited maybe things would have been different.