Charges were dropped Wednesday against a man accused of groping an FDNY EMT at the scene of a three-alarm fire last month after surveillance video and other other evidence showed he was having a seizure.
The incident involving a female medic happened during a Jan. 28 fire call, the FDNY said at the time. The EMT was flagged down by passersby to help a 52-year-old man who had staggered and fallen down in a crosswalk from an apparent medical emergency.
As the EMT—dressed in full PPE—helped out, the man grabbed at her clothing, and she needed to push his hands away. Police arrested the man at the time, but the Bronx District Attorney’s Office deferred prosecution and released the man the same day, pending an investigation.
Investigators from the Bronx District Attorney’s Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau and the NYPD Bronx Special Victims Squad combed through footage from a nearby store's security camera and interviewed people who had witnessed the man suffer multiple seizures in the past. The man's medical records that showed he was taken to the hospital for a seizure on at least one previous occasion.
"After an intensive investigation, we have dismissed and will not charge forcible touching, sex abuse or felony assault on a police officer, firefighter or EMS professional, against Aaron Cervantes-Mejia," Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark stated in a press release. "He was the subject of a false narrative that spread quickly through the media and social media.”
The decision to drop the charges upset Oren Barzilay, the president of the union resprsenting the FDNY's EMS workers, and he strongly criticized Clark.
“A false narrative was never provided," he stated in a press release. "The fact still remains that a fellow EMT felt threatened and was sexually assaulted. … Women have agency and known when and if they are being sexually groped. The video clearly shows the female EMT jumping back when groped in her crotch area.
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Posted by Oren Barzilay on Wednesday, February 3, 2021
"I believe the response from the Bronx district attorney is out of line and irresponsible. In my view this video does not justify clearing him from assaulting our member. … Not only is this EMT a victim of sexual abuse, she is now a victim of the district attorney’s office.”
