VILE GROPE OF EMT
Coronary-faking creep at fire charged in assault
A city EMT was roughly groped by a man faking a heart attack as she responded to a massive Bronx fire Thursday, officials said.
The 32-year-old emergency medical technician was standing by at a three-alarm fire on Westchester Ave. near St. Lawrence Ave. in Soundview around 7:30 a.m. when Aaron Cervantes-Mejia pretended he was having a medical emergency, authorities said.
Cervantes-Mejia, 52, collapsed on the ground and appeared to be having a heart attack, a police source said.
“As she approached, she was assaulted, inappropriately grabbed and held,” said EMS Chief Lillian Bonsignore. “It required the help of one of our co-workers to try to help her break out of the situation.”
When the EMT ran over to render aid, he suddenly grabbed her and groped her chest and privates over her clothes, the source said.
Nearby cops took Cervantes-Mejia into custody and later charged him with forcible touching and sex abuse. His arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court was pending Thursday.
Cervantes-Mejia lives about two blocks from the fire, officials said. It was his first arrest in New York City.
The EMT was not seriously injured and was in the care of her family Thursday morning, Bonsignore said.
“It’s unbelievable that this despicable incident happened,” the EMS chief said. “We are here ready to assist, and none of our people should have to come to work and deal with a situation like that.
“We are not going to tolerate this behavior,” added Bonsignore. “Our folks are here to save people’s lives in the most difficult situations all the time. This is not something we expect to happen again.”
Assaulting on-duty EMS personnel is a felony thanks to a state law passed in February 2016.
“On Tuesday a cop was shot, today an EMT sexually assaulted, basically raped while on duty,” said Oren Barzilay, the president of the EMS union, Local 2507. “Our EMT will need all the help and support we can get her and recovery time afforded to her until she fully recovers as this is a traumatic life event.”
“At what point will our city leaders take action with protecting EMS and city workers?” Barzilay added.
The union has repeatedly asked the city for self-defense training and tools to help protect EMTs and paramedics in the field, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, according to Barzilay.
“We are living in times where the criminal is the victim, and the victim is the criminal. We don’t need any more speeches from public officials, we need action, now,” he said. “This miscreant should be locked up, but we know they’ll be walking the streets again in no time.”
No one was injured in the fire, which tore through seven storefront businesses on Westchester Ave., FDNY Chief Kevin Woods said.
“We had a very, very heavy fire condition and units moved in aggressively with multiple hand lines, but we had to pull out and do exterior streams,” Woods said. “We are continuing to operate with six large-caliber streams.”
More than 140 firefighters were called in to douse the blaze, which began at a 99-cent store, officials said.
“These old buildings have many voids, and [firefighters were] trying to hit those voids with the streams,” Woods said.
Heavy smoke from the fire also affected the above-ground No. 6 train service. The MTA ordered all trains to pass the station at a reduced speed.
The cause of the fire was under investigation Thursday.