Mom of Dead Girl Says Cop Blocked Route to Hospital

Parents, passer-by claim officer was NYPD
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2010 1:48 PM CDT
Mom of Dead Girl Says Cop Blocked Route to Hospital
Pedestrians in Times Square walk past a police car May 26, 2004 in New York City.   (Getty Images)

An 11-year-old Brooklyn girl died from an asthma attack after someone in uniform—parents and one witness are convinced he was an NYPD officer—blocked her parents' route to the hospital. Carmen and Michael Ojeda were at a playground with daughter Briana on Friday when she started having trouble breathing. They turned the wrong way down a one-way street just around the corner from the hospital to avoid traffic and hit a parked car; then Carmen flagged down a marked car for help.

The uniformed man who got out of the car screamed, "What the f**k are you doing going down the wrong way," then "smirked" and said "I don't do CPR," Michael tells the New York Post. He then attempted to box them in when they asked to continue on to the hospital, while a passer-by (who says he's certain the man assisting them was a cop) performed CPR. Eventually the Ojedas—followed by the uniformed man—arrived at the hospital, where the apparent officer ripped up a ticket he was writing for them when he heard Briana was dead. The NYPD says the man may have been a security guard or volunteer auxiliary officer.
(More Briana Ojeda stories.)

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