Former NBC News reporter Mary Emily O’Hara, posted a barrage of tweets last week alleging that medics informed her they were forced by State Police to stop working on resuscitating Heather Heyer following the riots in Charlottesville.
Thirty-two-year-old Heyer, a Charlottesville counter-protester, died after she was hit by a car driven by an alleged neo-Nazi during the now-infamous “Unite the Right” rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11-12, 2017.
According to the tweets posted by O’Hara, medics believe they could have saved Heyer had they been allowed to proceed with medical treatment reported The Daily Wire.
O’Hara however, claims a “former employer” of hers prevented the story from being published.
The week Heather Heyer died, I had exclusive interviews with medics who said state police forced them to stop working on her after the crash — which they believed led to her death. The piece was canceled by my employer at the time, but I’ll never forget what those medics told me. https://t.co/dyDceKt1Ht
— Mary “Pete” Emily O’Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) August 12, 2019
While it remains unclear which news outlet she was referring to, her previous employers included NBC News, MSNBC, Vice, The Daily Beast, The Daily Dot, and Rolling Stone, among others.
“The week Heather Heyer died, I had exclusive interviews with medics who said state police forced them to stop working on her after the crash—which they believed led to her death,” said one of the tweets posted by O’Hara.
“The piece was canceled by my employer at the time, but I’ll never forget what those medics told me.”
When asked by a Twitter user why the story wasn’t published, O’Hara responded, “The segment was canceled because Jerry Lewis died that week and the network decided to run tributes instead of news for that hour.”
Honestly I was very upset at the time. The segment was canceled because Jerry Lewis died that week and the network decided to run tributes instead of news for that hour.
— Mary “Pete” Emily O’Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) August 12, 2019
The Twitter user also asked if the family of Heyer was aware of the situation, to which O’Hara said, “I’m not sure. At the time I wasn’t allowed to take the story elsewhere and sadly, it went unreported.”
An anonymous blog post on the itsgoingdown.org website, dated August 15, 2017, the same week Heyer died, appears to corroborate O’Hara claims.
The post reads, “As a … critical care RN/street medic who was the first responder for Heather Heyer, initiating CPR and, with a team of amazing bystanders, facilitating resuscitation until EMS arrived, I feel a compelling need to tell our story.”
The post goes on to say, “I was horrified to discover, after two minutes of intense, exhausting chest compressions, that a state trooper had forcibly removed the EMT assisting me in resuscitation, as well as other bystanders ready in line for the next round of compressions.
“The EMT told the state trooper that we were actively resuscitating a patient, but the state trooper physically removed him from the scene anyway.
“I had to yell for other bystanders to come assist with compressions, and two people courageously responded, despite the threats of the state trooper. The state trooper then began yelling at me to leave my patient.
“I initially thought that perhaps he intended to take over chest compressions, and counted him in to start the next round of compressions … but he stood by and said he could not do compressions. Why?! I thought to myself.
“He continued yelling at me to leave, and would not back down until I screamed that I’m a critical care nurse, I do CPR frequently, we have a patient without a pulse or respirations, and we will NOT stop CPR.
“He then began screaming that I could stay, but the other bystanders assisting CPR had to leave (they didn’t), and he did not stop until a firefighter arrived and took over chest compressions.”
According to the Information Liberation website, a 220-page report released by an independent review team, claims that Police Chief Al Thomas ordered police to stand down and let protestors fight in order to “declare an unlawful assembly.”
It remains unclear whether or not the supposed instruction by Thomas was the catalyst behind the alleged police intervention to medic’s attempts at reviving victims of violence at the rally.
Please bear with me, I’m a now-unemployed journalist with nowhere near the resources of a major news network and it’s been two years since I spoke with anyone. But I’m trying!
— Mary “Pete” Emily O’Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) August 13, 2019
“With so much interest in this story being told, I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve started reaching back out to try to talk with the medics that worked on Heather Heyer right after the crash to see if they are still interested in sharing their version of events.” O’Hara’s post continued.
“Please bear with me, I’m a now-unemployed journalist with nowhere near the resources of a major news network, and it’s been two years since I spoke with anyone. But I’m trying!”