Justice for Hero EMT Yadira Arroyo
EMT Yadira Arroyo was fatally run over by her own ambulance. -File Photo
BRONX - After months of legally wrangling over whether or not he was mentally fit to stand trial, a jury convicted a Bronx man of fatally running over EMT Yadira Arroyo with her own ambulance as she tried to help a man whom the defendant robbed.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that Jose Gonzalez has been found guilty by a jury of the murder of FDNY Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo, who he ran over with her ambulance nearly six years ago.
“Jose Gonzalez was convicted today of first-degree Murder in the horrendous death of Yadira Arroyo, a mother of five and 14-year veteran EMT, on March 16, 2017,” Clark said. “The road to justice for Yadi was tortuous; this case was delayed because of numerous hearings regarding the defendant’s fitness to stand trial, but her family and FDNY colleagues were patient and steadfast from the beginning until today’s verdict. I thank the witnesses, who saw Yadi in her final moments, for their testimonies during the trial. Yadi lives on in the legacy of her children, and in the countless New Yorkers she assisted in their time of need.”
Clark said the defendant, Jose Gonzalez, 31, was found guilty of first-degree Murder.
The verdict was reached after a nearly one-month long jury trial before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus. The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5, 2023.
The trial against Gonzalez was delayed after multiple court hearings on the defendant’s mental fitness to stand trial. He was deemed unfit in May 2022 and was sent to a psychiatric facility and was then deemed fit to stand trial in September 2022.
According to the investigation, on the evening of March 16, 2017 in the vicinity of Watson Avenue and White Plains Road, the defendant grabbed on to the back of the victim’s ambulance and rode on it, then jumped off and stole a backpack from a young man.
The robbery victim flagged down EMT Yadira Arroyo’s ambulance and she got out of the vehicle and spoke briefly to Gonzalez.
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The defendant then jumped into the driver’s seat of the ambulance, and Arroyo and her partner, who was in the passenger seat, told him to get out. Gonzalez put the car in reverse, striking Arroyo, then drove forward, pinning her under the vehicle and dragging her across the intersection. The defendant crashed the vehicle into a snowbank and exited the ambulance.
An off-duty MTA Police Officer was nearby and saw the defendant drag the victim with the ambulance and confronted him. When Gonzalez tried to run away, the Officer tackled the defendant and handcuffed him, with the help of several civilians.
Arroyo sustained multiple injuries and was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
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