Briana's Law is the name given to New York Senate Bill S3165B signed by Governor Andrew Mark Cuomo during the 2017–2018 Legislative Session which honors the memory of Briana Ojeda. 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. Prior to the passage of the law, the New York Police Department trained its officers in CPR, but they were not obligated by law to perform it. Briana's Law requires that every police officer, member of the State Police, including police officer trainees and state police cadets, receive CPR training prior to employment as well as during employment every two years, where practicable, but no later than 4 years, and requires that individuals demonstrate proficiency in the technique.
Briana Ojeda
Briana Amaryllis Ojeda was a young girl of Puerto Rican descent born in 1998 in Brooklyn, New York, to Michael Angelo and Carmen Ojeda. Ojeda was raised there and received her primary education in the Boerum Hill Historic District section of that borough. She was about to enter the sixth grade at St. Francis Xavier School. when on August 27, 2010, she suffered an asthma attack while playing in a Carroll Gardens playground. Her mother, Carmen, panicked when she realized that the asthma attack was severe. She rushed to take her daughter to the Long Island College Hospital which was the closest hospital to them in Brooklyn. While driving her car, she mistakenly made a wrong turn on a one way street .
Officer Alfonso Mendez, a five-year veteran in the New York Police Department, spotted Carmen Ojeda's car going in the wrong direction. He told her to pull over and to stop her car. Carmen Ojeda did as she was told and told the police officer that her daughter was not breathing and needed CPR immediately.
According to the testimony of witness Eria Domenech:
The New York Police Department does train its officers in CPR, but they were not obligated by law to perform it. Mendez later testified in a deposition that the only training in CPR that he received was that out of a textbook and that he had never practiced it on anyone.
Mendez proceeded to give Carmen Ojeda a ticket which delayed her from continuing on to the hospital. Finally, he allowed Carmen Ojeda to continue driving to the Long Island College Hospital; however, instead of calling 9-1-1 for help and leading Carmen Ojedas' car to the hospital with his squad-car, thereby allowing her to pass through the heavy traffic, he followed her with his car. When they finally arrived at the hospital emergency room, it was too late. Ojeda was pronounced dead about an hour later.
Briana Ojeda's funeral was held at St. Francis Xavier Church, the Park Slope church. Her casket was carried along 6th Avenue and placed on a horse-drawn carriage. The carriage then took the casket to the cemetery where she was buried. The event was covered by the news media, including CBS 2's Pablo Guzman. Briana was survived by her parents Michael Angelo and Carmen Ojeda, her brother Michael Angelo Jr. and by her grandmother Maria.
Search for Officer Mendez
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. Kelly also said that the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau was expanding its search to neighboring commands. He speculated the mystery officer could have been a police officer from outside of the 76th Precinct visiting a courthouse in nearby downtown Brooklyn. 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.
Mendez, who was assigned to the 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn, failed to turn himself in. The NYPD's Internal Affairs at the time spent several days trying to identify the officer who allegedly failed to help Carmen Ojeda. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was upset because it took four days to locate Mendez. After Mendez turned himself in, he was suspended without pay for thirty days by the NYPD. The reason behind the suspension was that he failed to report his involvement in the incident. However, no criminal charges were filed against him.