Briana Ojeda was an 11-year-old girl from Brooklyn, New York, who died in the summer of 2010 when police officer Alfonso Mendez did not perform CPR on her after she suffered from an asthma attack.
[5][1][2][3] Officer Alfonso Mendez, a five-year veteran in the New York Police Department, spotted Carmen Ojeda's car going in the wrong direction.
[7][5][1][2][3] According to the New York Daily News, Police Commissioner Raymond "Ray" Kelly told reporters at a press briefing that not enough information is known to determine whether the person being blamed in the death of Briana Ojeda was in fact an NYPD officer.
The commissioner said it's also possible the officer could have been an NYPD traffic agent, auxiliary cop or even someone from a different law enforcement agency or a private security company.
The NYPD's Internal Affairs at the time spent several days trying to identify the officer who allegedly failed to help Carmen Ojeda.
After the mother told Mendez about the situation with her daughter, he claimed that he didn't know CPR – even though all NYPD officers are trained in the life-saving technique at the Police Academy.
[9][5][1][2][3] In July 2016, the case regarding the lawsuit was presented before Kings County Supreme Court Justice Dawn M. Jimenez-Salta, a Brooklyn judge.
[10] According to the New York Daily News, Mendez had testified in a deposition that he had only received CPR training out of a textbook and had never practiced on a dummy.
According to Judge Jimenez-Salta, her decision in regard to Mendez was based on the fact that the NYPD does not require officers "to know and be willing and able" to perform the life-saving resuscitation.
[10] The judge also dismissed the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress because she did not find Mendez's failure to perform CPR "extreme and outrageous" due to his lack of knowledge.
[10] Lawyers for the city moved to dismiss the wrongful death suit, arguing that there is no constitutional or state right to the government providing emergency medical assistance.
However, the decision prevailed, and the Ojedas then took it upon themselves to promote the establishment of a law which would require every NYPD officer to get CPR training.
[2] On August 27, 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed "Briana's Law" requiring all police officers to get CPR training and be re-certified every 2 years.
New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton made the following statement after the Governor signed the Bill converting it into Briana's Law:[2] Vindicating a 7-year effort to make communities across NY safer.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's signing Briana's Law yesterday vindicates a seven-year effort to make communities across New York safer, with police who are more capable of delivering aid in emergencies.