The New York Police Department has suspended Officer Alfonso Mendez, 30, who is accused of refusing to help Carmen Ojeda revive her daughter, Briana Ojeda, 11. Mendez allegedly refused to perform CPR on the little girl who later died.
The NYPD had to hunt down Mendez who did not report the incident. He was identified from photos by witnesses.
The mother had called 911 but then tried to drive Briana to Long Island College Hospital. Mendez stopped Ojeda and, according to her, was surly and hostile to her request for CPR. She says that Mendez stated that he did not know CPR despite the fact that all officers are trained in CPR.
Mendez then followed her to the hospital and then disappeared.
Internal affairs did some good solid police work to find the officer, including going through gasoline receipts. One showed that Mendez stopped to fill his vehicle that day in the area.
Any torts lawsuit would likely face a causation challenge as to whether CPR would have helped the little girl. This would be established by expert testimony given her condition once she arrived at the hospital. In this case, the little girl was suffering from an asthma attack. There is clearly a case of negligence against the officer and the city in such a circumstance. Even with discipline, Mendez was still an employee of the MPD, which is responsible for his conduct under the doctrine of respondeat superior.
We have seen other such cases involving callous or hostile officers during medical emergencies (here and here and hereand here and here) . We have also seen cases where distraught family members are charged for trying to help their loved one. However, it is difficult to follow any resulting lawsuits. Obviously, the vast majority of officers would never respond in such a fashion to a dying child. This is all the more reason to not simply discipline but to remove officers who are found to lack such basic human sentiments when they are identified. You cannot teach or train officers to be human. You have to be born and raised with it.
Various sites state that CPR is used for asthma victims and helps a little but the most important thing is to get the person to the hospital as quickly as possible. One site states:
If someone has an asthma attack and collapses, what should a person do? Will CPR help?
If someone collapses from an asthma attack, it is because he or she is not getting enough oxygen. This is because all the lung’s small airways have narrowed and are not allowing enough air to reach the air sacs. Mouth to mouth respiration may help a little. The real need is to get this person to an emergency department so that the patient can receive medications and emergency endotracheal intubation (a tube in the main airway).
It is not clear if that Mendez used his siren to clear traffic. The reports say only that he followed them, which would suggest that he did not lead with a siren to quicken the trip.
Jonathan Turley
Source: NY Daily News
It motto is clearly enforced. To Protect and Serve. Where the hell did Protect and Save get involved here?
“You cannot teach or train officers to be human. You have to be born and raised with it.” (Jonathan Turley)
Truth needs no further amplification except I might just change the word officers to people.
AY: Is not CPR part of the Service? Why else would the training be provided?
culheath,
I may be wrong, but I think maybe the motto has been around long before CPR became a readily available remedy.
I’m not sure that CPR, at least the R part, is all that helpful in asthma attacks. It might help a little. The best procedure is to get the person to the hospital ASAP.
How do we get around sovereign immunity and official immunity for the negligence suit?
Nal may have a point about the CPR. I think the main trouble in an asthma attack is that your airway is constricted, and it may not be possible to blow air down the narrow airway. OTOH, a healthy person may be better able to force air down the restricted airway than an exhausted and dying child can.
Either way, I see no excuse for the officer failing to report the incident or help the child get into the ER.
I don’t think the failure to do CPR is the thing. I think the detention of the driver is the thing.
If the detention was brief then I wouldn’t normally be inclined to think that the policeman should be punished. However, if the allegations against this policeman are true (eg, lied about incident over the radio to other policemen, had bad attitude while talking to mother, was writing mother traffic ticket at hospital as daughter was dying, did little or nothing to clear traffic for the mother once the emergency was established to the satisfaction of the popo), then he should pay dearly for every second of delay over the bare minimum. Attitude matters on something like that and the police need to learn that.
CPR is a lot of hard, physical work. Maybe this was laziness, or perhaps fear that he’d be sued if she dies under his care, but those trained in CPR know that the Good Samaritan rule takes over and they are exempt. And, maybe he was not where he was supposed to be and didn’t want anybody to find out by getting recognition as a hero. Lots of reasons not to do it, including an old fashioned panic attack.
I may be wrong, but I think maybe the motto has been around long before CPR became a readily available remedy.
What?
My wife saw your post this morning and was flabbergasted. I said, no, he’s kidding. Nobody with two brain cells would say something like this, and I moved my head over my head and said whoosh.
In case you are being serious, there are a number of levels at which your argument can be kicked in the nuts:
1. The motto “to protect and to serve” was introduced in 1955 (first by the entertainment industry), subsequent to the invention of CPR in 1954. Hence even by its own standard this is ridiculous.
2. Cops are trained in giving CPR and are expected to apply it to citizens in order to serve them. No cop has ever successfully invoked the motto as an excuse to avoid CPR training.
3. The motto makes no stipulation that police responsibilities are frozen in time. The motto would be “to protect and to serve only using techniques available in 1955″. Had that a ring to it sounding good on TV and radio, we might have to resort to the fundamental “motto” argument that makes your post so stupid:
4. A motto carries the legal consequences of a parade display: zero.
What Blouise and the Prof. said.
This guy is a pathetic excuse for a human being, much less a police officer.
the Prof. wrote:
“Any torts lawsuit would likely face a causation challenge as to whether CPR would have helped the little girl.”
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That is an important “if.”
1) Everyone who is able should get training in CPR, and some background eduction as to how and why it functions, so that you can apply it as effectively as possible. And, yes, you need serious training. It’s easy to be freaked out when you actually perform CPR, and good training helps. It’s unnerving to lock lips with someone who is, well, dead, and it’s startling when you hear ribs breaking, but that’s all part of the process…
2) Everyone should know that when an individual is in a situation where they NEED to have CPR performed on them, they are in a very bad state. The reality is that in only a tiny minority of situations where non-medical professionals perform CPR is it “successful.” (The issue isn’t so much that medical professionals “do it right” versus “civilians”, but rather that medical professionals know when it’s going to make a difference and generally have alternatives available if those are going to be more effective.) CPR is useful in the “it’s worth it even if it only saves one life” sense.
Learn CPR and use it appropriately, but know that it is nothing like the TV/Hollywood version where dead people come back to life and are talking and walking around minutes later.
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Specific to this case, I wonder if the mother knew CPR? Could they have transferred the girl to the squad car, and had her perform CPR (as much as you can in the back seat of a car) while he drove to the hospital? Also, did the officer communicate to the hospital that they were on the way with someone experiencing a severe asthma attack, so the ER would be ready to meet them at the door?
Also, I doubt that he would have such good judgment or self-awareness, but if the officer realized that he didn’t really pay attention to his CPR training or couldn’t perform CPR adequately, it might be for the best that he declined to perform CPR if he was just going to injure the girl by performing it poorly.
the fact that the officer was of no help doesn’t really supprise me. personal experience i guess.
if you’re ever robbing a bank have a black getaway driver to sit out front and act like he’s changing a tire. no officer will get within 500 yards.
If CPR is not effective for a severe asthma attack and the officer’s refusal to perform CPR was not unreasonable then the officer’s surrounding the incident may cause him more problems than the actual incident. Apparently he did not report the incident and didn’t come forward for 4 days. IAB was called in to track him down. He could easily be seen as acting as if he did something (other than paperwork/disclosure) wrong. Falsification (lying) by omission was a serious allegation where I worked.
The linked article also makes this statement:
“Mendez, who has been on theforce(sic) for five years and hadnot(sic) had a major disciplinary issue,…”
If the officer had no previous disciplinary problems that statement makes it appear that there were minor problems previously and shouldn’t. If he did one wonders if he shouldn’t have been watched a bit more closely. There’s probably a lot of questions associated with this story and the way the Brooklyn PD does business that we’re not going to get answers to.
OTOH, the mother is probably lucky she wasn’t stopped by these officers:
“Police in Marin County, California are facing a lawsuit after two deputies tasered 64-year-old Peter McFarland in his own home.
The officers screamed “stop resisting” even while he lay incapacitated on the floor. They shot him with the taser three times. …
McFarland had injured himself falling on his front steps and been treated by the paramedics before the two police officers showed and began tasing him for no apparent reason.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/peter-mcfarland-tasered-b_n_703237.html
Sorry people. This is a he-said she-said type of accusation as far as I can tell. If someone was in serious physical distress the cop can argue that he gave her a clear escort to the hospital were the professionals can help best. What shape was the girl in at the time? How far away were they from the professionals? Unclear right now. Let’s get the whole story. Sorry but people get sick and die. The cop escorted them to the hospital after stopping a driver that was apparently was speeding/reckless, etc. and gave her a pass on citations after realizing the problem. Maybe worse things will come out with the full story but let’s give a LEO the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
How about you boot lick to authority some more instead of holding them to their legal duties, GG.
Facts, not blind deference to authority, make justice.
FACT: CPR assistance was requested and denied.
FACT: All of the officers are trained in CPR.
FACT: Given the nature of the job requirements, such a lack of compassion for anyone let alone a child merits disqualification from holding the job.
But “as far as [you] can tell”, Alphonso is okay because he didn’t issue citations.
As far as you can tell would apparently be no further than the end of your own nose.
Compassionate conservatism in action.
“FACT: Given the nature of the job requirements, such a lack of compassion for anyone let alone a child merits disqualification from holding the job.”
No, sir. That is an opinion, not a fact.
The question of whether the policeman not giving CPR was from mindless cruelty or from thinking that going to the hospital immediately was a better course of action is open. The two actual facts you listed do not help us to resolve that question.
Daniel,
Fine. If compassion for your fellow human beings isn’t a job requirement for police, I hope you enjoy your local PD staffed with nothing but sociopaths.
Anti-social Personality Disorder (ASP) is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR) of the American Psychiatric Association (2000), p. 645, as “…a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.”
Just the right kind of person to uphold the law, eh?
Or just the right kind of person to be a jackbooted thug?
What do you expect from your police?
Their salaries are paid with your tax dollars.
They exist supposedly to protect you from crime and serve you in times of emergency?
Would you accept this dereliction and abandonment of basic human decency from a direct employee? Let alone one that was a trained responder?
Ah, thank you. Now you have clarified the question of whether going right to the hospital or administering CPR on the spot would have been likelier to save the child’s life. In, er, some way that I am too dense to comprehend, but I am sure everyone else sees it.
Cops have radios. He could call for another cop to escort while administering CPR or he could have started CPR after calling for an ambulance.
He should have and could have done more.
Regardless of the efficacy of administering CPR in this situation, how does one explain the callous disregard of the life of child in extremis. Aren’t we obligated to do more than nothing? How about everything? Such an attitude may not automatically disqualify an individual from PUBLIC service, as Buddha opines, but shouldn’t it really be a fact?
I think Mendez did do wrong at least in not helping the woman and child into the ER after he followed them there, and in failing to report the incident.
As for failing to use CPR, that might have been psychotic cruelty on his part; there are officers like that, and maybe Mendez is one of them. Or it might have been a terrible mistake in judgment. Or it might have been the right thing to do: bringing the child straight to the hospital without stopping for CPR (much less to radio in another officer) might have been the best chance to save her, but tragically failed. I don’t know, and I’m not convinced that anyone else who’s posted yet knows either. Such judgments should be made on evidence, not on stereotypes of policemen as heroic paladins or as jackbooted thugs.
In court such judgments should be made on evidence.
This isn’t court and opinions will vary, Daniel.
Other than that, you’re correct in that no one not at the scene knows the facts. That doesn’t negate defining what you expect from law enforcement to be on its face more humane than this guy acted. The officer was surly and hostile according to the mother and he essentially fled the scene without filing and incident report – not exactly a strike in his favor. Especially the failing to file a report. He is required to file an incident report so the question that is open is why didn’t he? Which goes to his state of mind and/or motivation. And it reflects poorly on him whether his motivation was covering his callousness or just simple laziness in doing his required reporting. No one expects perfection, but in public servants designated and trained as first responders it is not unreasonable to expect better performance than rendered in this instance. They don’t just take your tax dollars as salary, they accept duties when they do so.
That poor mother. What the hell is going on!
‘Police Officer Alfonso Mendez, 30, who is assigned to the 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn, had his gun and badge taken and will likely face a departmental charge for failing to take proper police action, cops said.’~sourced article
I think we can assume that this guy did not convince anyone that he was ‘escorting them to the ER’ or refusing to give CPR to better assist the child. Plus, 4 days to fess up AFTER being fingered by witnesses? It’s not an everyday occurrance that LEO’s are relieved of their badges is it?
Huge thanks to Internal Affairs for upholding the respectability of the Department. It’s outcomes like this that should be the norm, rather than a rarity.
Remember — it’s when the department circles the wagons around an officer to shield him from the consequences of his brutality, that’s when our system of government goes to shit. Even though this is a terrible tragety for Ms Ojeda, it also represents a rare case of justice served.
W=c,
Thanks for the update. And I second DigitalDave’s comments regarding the NYPD’s IA Department. Thanks for doing your job.
Since NY has the “Good Samaritan’s Law” which protects people who render medical assistance in an emergency and this cop had CPR training, fear of a law suit shouldn’t have affected his decision.
CPR does no good if no O2/Co2 are getting in or out of the lungs.
I do have asthma and there are times when my airways are completely in spasm and or clogged with copious, frothy, thick mucus)think inhaling beaten egg white with corn starch added for stability).
There is not a damn thing you can do but hope that as you watch your self turn into a zombie with burning red eyes that the anoxic condition you are entering will cause the spasms to relax enough for breathing to be possible.
Trying to gasp or force air into the airways is likely to increase the irritation that the lungs are experiencing that have caused the inflammation, excess heavy mucus, and spasm in the first place.
Sometimes people die from and asthma attack, even in ER, just like they sometimes die of heart attack, even in ER.
If CPR were the solution, why did the mother not know CPR. Did the mother have an epipin, did she have an oxygen tank? Was the child on cortisone and anti spasmodic inhalants?
I’m no great lover of cops but the first responder for a child is usually the parent. Was the parent negligent, and then the cop was? Are police trained to deal with serious asthma attacks and the very limited options of treatment? Do they have the right equipment, like a cortisone injection?
CPR CPR and the NYPD officer that did nothing but let this girl die in front of her parent terrible, 2nd they suspend him nice but still unbecoming of a police officer 3RD he should be found guilty of a crime and sent away OR JUST FOR NOT PAYING ATTENTION IN CLASS WHEN THEY WHERE GIVING CLASS ABOUT CPR maybe a year or two of getting fucked in the ass @ Rikers should do the trick and 4th A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF NYPD,this is a gross injustice of the law.
I almost always have my barrier device with me, and had to start CPR once. (Fortunately some EMTs came by. I shook for an hour afterwards.) And, yes, I was just realizing that I was doing it incorrectly as they came by.
I would like everyone who made a comment on this event on any site to go and get certified in CPR/AED. However, although I have taken at least 6 CPR classes, the Red Cross never, as far as I recall, told me to use it as a treatment for asthma. The recommendation was “keep the person calm, try to slow their breathing, and call 911.” For one thing, my understanding is that if the person still has a heartbeat, CPR can really do a job on them. And the purpose of CPR is to circulate blood (and oxygen) to the heart and brain. If there is no oxygen in the blood, it won’t do any good. I have read various opinions about the effectiveness of rescue breathing on asthma, pro and con. Since the parent apparently had an oxygen mask on the child, and I assume, was supplying her with oxygen, I can’t see what rescue breathing could have done. However, since people think CPR and AEDs are magic life savers, anyone with a child, spouse, friend, etc at risk should learn to do it reliably and also learn when not to do it and wait for an ambulance. Perhaps if the mother had had appropriate, effective training, she wouldn’t have tried to race down a one-way street with the tragic results that ensued. Panic may be ‘normal’ but it is totally counter-productive.
Finally, if CPR is really called for, the person is dead, and is rarely brought back to life. They “stay dead.” (American Health and Safety Institute training handbook.)
There’s no excuse for this. I’m a CPR Instructor in Tampa. Children need to have CPR performed on them right away. Compressions in CPR are very important, because among other benefits, they keep blood flowing to the brain, negating brain damage. Rescue breaths during CPR are critical during an asthma attack. CPR certification has to be renewed on a regular basis, so he was either lying, or someone in his chain of command wasn’t doing their job in making sure their officers were certified.
I think all police officers should be given training for CPR
To John Brown..thank you for the clarification. I always thought you didn’t do CPR if someone was still breathing (apparently the young lady was, although not effectively), but I guess I was mistaken. I don’t know why the Red Cross doesn’t tell us this. I’ll remember it, though.