Now Witness Says DWI Cop <em>Did</em> Try to Resucitate

Officer Andrew Kelly at his arraignment.

John Del Signore

Published Oct 6, 2009

Modified Oct 6, 2009

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Last week the Daily News published a sensational quote from an anonymous source that completely refuted claims that alleged drunk-driving cop Andrew Kelly worked feverishly to save his victim's life, performing mouth-to-mouth and even resuscitating her momentarily. The source said, "That story is a bunch of bull. He barely touched the girl. His hands were almost on her stomach, not her chest. His mouth never even touched her mouth." Well, that was last week.

This week the News gets a witness to go on the record to corroborate Kelly's lawyers' claims about his actions after the September 27th crash. Emmanuel Cenord, a medical assistant, pulled Vionique Valnord's body from under a parked car, and he says Kelly "was traumatized. He was screaming, 'Oh, my God! Please don't die! Please don't die!'" The two men worked desperately to resuscitate Valnord, and Cenord says, "She opened her eyes slightly and she appeared to be breathing. I think we revived her."

Of course, it doesn't matter so much what Kelly did after he killed Valnord. The big question here is whether prosecutors can convince a jury that Kelly, accused of vehicular manslaughter and DWI, was inebriated at the time of the accident. And that could be challenging, because Kelly successfully dragged his feet on taking a blood-alcohol test for over seven hours, and by the time the test was administered, he was clean. But police sources say he reeked of booze and had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, and NYPD first responder Robert McGinn has been suspended for giving Kelly chewing gum and water.

And yesterday Kelly got some unsolicited advice from a former NYPD officer currently serving five to 15 years for drunkenly running over a Brooklyn family in 2001. Former NYPD sergeant Joseph Gray was convicted of fatally colliding with a pregnant woman, her 4-year-old son, and her sister. Gray thinks Kelly needs to make amends, and tells the Post, "Even if he gets away with it, he's going to think about what he did for a long time, and he's going to have to try to come to grips with his guilt."