Bronx, NY – Bloomberg To The Rescue As Teen Faints At Mayor’s News Conference

Bronx, NY – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is called upon to serve many roles: public face of the city, head of law enforcement, leader of school reform efforts. But paramedic in chief?

When a student seemingly fainted behind the mayor at a news conference on Wednesday morning, Mr. Bloomberg rushed to his side, leading the effort to revive him. He searched for a pulse in his neck, helped unbutton his shirt and tried to get the student — identified by peers as Emmanuel Vera, a pitcher on Lehman College’s baseball team — to start talking.

“What’s your name?” the mayor asked. “Where do you live?”

The 100 or so people at the news conference at Lehman, in the Bronx, watched nervously as Mr. Vera, who had thudded to the ground without warning, did not seem to respond.

Mr. Bloomberg persisted during the three minutes or so that Mr. Vera appeared to be unconscious. By the time paramedics arrived, Mr. Vera seemed alert and tried to sit up, but the mayor told him to rest. Police officers soon picked up Mr. Vera and took him outside.

Mr. Bloomberg returned to the lectern and tried to segue back to the topic of the day: the rising number of students from city schools, particularly blacks and Hispanics, who were enrolling in City University of New York schools.

“He seems O.K.,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “He said he hadn’t eaten any breakfast, so he just needed some food or water or it’s hot in here. But hopefully he’ll be O.K. And I think what he’d want us to do is continue.”

The CUNY chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, resumed his remarks. He said Mr. Vera was a computer science major who was hoping to become an expert in computer crime.

“When a computer crashes?” Mr. Bloomberg joked, trying to restore humor in the room. “Is that what they’re talking about?”