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NEW YORK - A police officer accused of not helping an 11-year-old girl dying of an asthma attack has been suspended without pay.
Brooklyn mother Carmen Ojeda was driving her daughter, Briana, to a hospital on Friday when she turned the wrong way down a one-way street and crashed her car. She claims the officer at the scene said he didn't know CPR and couldn't help the girl, who died soon after.
"I asked him to help me," Ojeda said. "'My daughter is dying. My daughter can't breath. She needs mouth to mouth.' And he said, 'I don't know CPR.'"
The police department said Tuesday it located the officer, Alfonso Mendez, by showing photographs of staff to witnesses.
Mendez, 30, was suspended pending further investigation. He could face departmental charges of failing to act.
All officers are trained in CPR at the police academy.
Before the officer was identified, Ojeda had pleaded publicly for him to come forward.
"I want nothing from you or anybody else, I just want an apology," Ojeda cried. "Give my daughter peace ... and say, 'I'm sorry.'"
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, a police union, doesn't comment in cases like this, spokesman Al O'Leary said. A phone number listed under the officer's name doesn't accept incoming calls, and the officer couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
Briana's funeral was scheduled for Wednesday.
Related:
- Officer’s Actions Questioned After Asthmatic Girl Dies
- Cop identified, suspended by NYPD for failing to help woman save daughter dying of asthma
- Briana Ojeda's mother wants cop who blocked her way to hospital to come forward and apologize
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