Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that her office dismissed charges against a Bronx man accused of groping an FDNY Emergency Medical Services technician at a fire scene, after surveillance video and other evidence established that there was indeed a medical emergency involving a seizure.
District Attorney Clark said, “I will not tolerate assaults on first responders, who courageously serve our city, especially during this pandemic; and I will not prosecute anyone unless there is evidence to support charges. 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. He was the subject of a false narrative that spread quickly through the media and social media.”
The investigation also included interviews of people who have witnessed Mr. Cervantes-Mejia suffer multiple seizures in the past during which he grabbed at anything within reach. Furthermore, a review of medical records confirmed a history of seizures where on at least one prior occasion he was transported to a hospital by EMS for treatment of a seizure. The Bronx District Attorney’s Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau and NYPD Bronx Special Victims Squad reviewed surveillance video from a nearby store camera that shows Mr. Cervantes-Mejia, 52, stagger and fall in a crosswalk at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Westchester Avenue as he was walking to work at 7:06 a.m. on Thursday, January 28, 2021. Passersby stopped to assist and waved over EMTs that were across the street on Westchester Avenue. A female EMT responded to the requests for help. Mr. Cervantes-Mejia is seen lying on the ground in the crosswalk and grabs the EMT’s clothing in what appears to be the throes of a seizure. The EMT moved his hand away without any assistance while covered in protective gear from head to toe. Mr. Cervantes-Mejia did not appear to have control of his hands.
The investigation also included interviews of people who have witnessed Mr. Cervantes-Mejia suffer multiple seizures in the past during which he grabbed at anything within reach. Furthermore, a review of medical records confirmed a history of seizures where on at least one prior occasion he was transported to a hospital by EMS for treatment of a seizure.
On Thursday, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office deferred prosecution and released Mr. Cervantes-Mejia pending investigation.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office remains committed to protecting those who serve our city as members of the FDNY and EMS. In 2018, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office secured guilty pleas to Manslaughter in the marijuana grow house explosion that killed FDNY Battalion Chief Michael Fahy, in an extremely rare instance in which someone was held criminally responsible for conditions that caused the death of a firefighter in the line of duty in New York City. The prosecution of Jose Gonzalez for the murder of EMT Yadira Arroyo in 2017 is pending.
The video can be viewed through this link: https://youtu.be/sB8rO3JAN9Q
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