Brooklyn, NY – It was a group of volunteers from Bedford-Stuyvestant who were first on-scene after Saturday’s brutal shooting, trying frantically to save the lives of NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
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Baron Johnson, Tantania Alexander, Pedro Adorno and Chris Womble of the Bedford Stuyvestant Volunteer Ambulance Corps sprang into action after receiving word that the two officers had been shot just blocks away. As a second call came in indicating that an ambulance was urgently needed, Johnson took the wheel of the ambulance, weaving in and out of traffic as they rushed to aid the fallen officers.
“Our volunteers responded right away,” Commander Rocky Robinson, founder of the Bedford Stuyvestant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, told VIN News. “There was no other medical personnel there. Just the two officers, both sitting in the car and neither of them seemed to be breathing. They got to work right away, trying to start circulation and ventilation.”
According to reports in The Daily Beast, several officers helped Johnson extricate Ramos from the car and he began to administer CPR. Johnson said that it was clear from the outset that only a miracle could save Ramos. Seeing that Ramos was wearing a wedding ring inspired Johnson to do everything he could for the officer, who had suffered a grave head wound.
Johnson recalled that Ramos’ eyes were open as he began performing CPR.
“He was just looking at me and I’m looking at him and I’m hoping he would blink at least one time,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t like his eyes rolled back. He was aware of what was going on. It was a constant stare dead into my face and I just looked back at him, hoping.”
In addition to his medical training, Johnson called for divine intervention in his quest to save Ramos.
“I prayed and I prayed as I pushed,” said Johnson. “I kept telling him, ‘Talk to me,’ saying to him, ‘Move if you can hear me. Try to blink your eyes. Just do something!’”
All around him, Johnson heard police officers screaming out to the wounded officer.
“Please, Ramos, don’t die! Don’t die!”
Alexander and Adorno, who had been performing CPR on Liu until an FDNY ambulance arrived, joined Johnson in his rescue efforts. The group loaded Ramos into the ambulance and sped off towards Woodhull Hospital.
The volunteers continued their efforts to save Ramos even after their arrival at Woodhull, following doctor’s instructions to cut away his clothes and standing ready to assist the trauma team, until with a shake of his head, the doctor indicated that Ramos was gone.
Johnson remembers crying as he heard the news and said that Alexander took word of the officers’ deaths extremely hard. Expecting the worst, Robinson was at Woodhull when his crew brought Ramos in, knowing that his volunteers would likely be traumatized.
“We started doing this because we want to save lives,” Johnson said. “You do everything you’re trained to do. You’re told that if you do these things, you can help save somebody’s life.”
Just one day later, Johnson said he only wish he could have done more for Ramos.
“If we could still be working on him now, we would be,” said Johnson.
Robinson said that since its inception in 1988, the Bedford Stuyvestant Volunteer Ambulance Corps has trained over 2,000 local residents as first responders and runs several programs for younger children, teens and young adults to prepare them for careers in health care.
“We teach them that it is better to be a hero than a zero, that it is better to save a life than to take a life,” said Robinson. “We have to lead our youth and if we do that, we could completely change the narrative.”
Robinson noted that despite the recent protests that have swept the city, when it comes to his ambulance corps, racial tension is non-existent.
“There is no division here of police against the community or community against the police,” said Robinson. “There is only one race, the human race and when someone needs help, we don’t ask their ideology or their political affiliation. When someone is in need, we help them and if people see that as a sign that we are supporting the police, we don’t care. The patient comes first whether he is wearing a blue uniform or clothing from the homeless shelter.”
No where on the video of the incident do you see them or their ambulance. This is another on of Rocky’s fantasies.
the media should focus all it’s attention on black heroes like these who actually make a real difference for thier communities. what would would Al be with out the TV news-zero!
let us be united with people who do this kind of work. if there were more then there would be less time to protest.
Not critizising the emts But the media must use the correct nomenclature.. A paramedic has much more training than an emt. As a former volunteer emt and in fact my corps donated a used ambulance to Bed Sty,the correct terms should be used in describing a person certification.