The results of a Kings County District Attorney probe will determine if the two EMTs will be left on the hook for not helping a pregnant mother while she died at a downtown Brooklyn cafe.
In a quest for more answers in her death, the grieving family of Eutisha Revee Rennix, 25, and her child, who died shortly after being born prematurely, had the young woman and baby’s bodies exhumed from their eternal resting place at Canarsie Cemetery.
Rennix, a resident of Schnectady Avenue East Flatbush, died on December 9 after falling ill at a MetroTech Au Bon Pain in downtown Brooklyn. EMTs Jason Green and Melisa Jackson, who were in the eatery where the six-month pregnant Rennix collapsed, reportedly did nothing to help her.
A preliminary autopsy revealed that Rennix died of asthma. Further findings will be forthcoming once some toxicology tests are performed, explained attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who is representing Rennix’s family.
Rubenstein said that he is waiting for the findings of the Kings County District Attorney investigation before taking any legal action.
“The family is waiting to see if any criminal charges will be brought against the EMTs,” he said. “That’s our primary focus. If this is a criminal act we want those who committed that act to be punished.”
Sources in the Kings County DA’s office said that investigators have interviewed several people at the restaurant when Rennix fell ill. Their findings had not been released as this paper went to press.
While some have floated the idea that Green and Jackson could be charged with reckless endangerment, sources said that probably the most they could be charged with is official misconduct.
“According to state law, they’re not required to help,” the source said. “FDNY regulations mandates that they respond, however.”
Attorney Douglas Rosenthal, who are representing Green and Jackson, who are reportedly dating, has repeatedly alleged that his clients never saw Rennix in distress.
“People think that they died at my client’s feet and that is clearly not the case,” Rosenthal told reporters, although he would not confirm if Green or Jackson have spoken to DA investigators.
During a press conference on Thursday, Rennix’s mother Cynthia said that her daughter always carried an asthma inhaler with her. If the EMTs responded, they would have found it and given it to her, she claim.
“Had the asthma attack been addressed, would she be alive today?” Rubenstein asked. “That’s the question that needs to be answered.”
“This family suffered a horrible tragedy; the loss of a daughter and a grandchild — circumstances which any family would find horrendous,” he continued. “I think that getting the information of the autopsy is helping to ease the pain.”
