Life without Parole for Killing EMT with Her Own Ambulance

Justice for Yadira Arroyo

Yadira Arroyo was fatally struck and run over by her own ambulance by a man robbing it. -Facebook photo

BRONX - A Bronx man who fatally ran over an EMT with her own ambulance was sentenced to life in prison without parole, prosecutors announced. 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that Jose Gonzalez has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of FDNY Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo, who he ran over with her ambulance in March 2017. 

District Attorney Clark said, “Today, Jose Gonzalez was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the horrific and senseless death of Yadira Arroyo, a mother of five. It closes a long and difficult chapter for the victim’s family and her FDNY colleagues, who have waited for justice for six years. Despite the sentencing, Yadi will forever be missed by her loved ones, and the pain will always be there. We take comfort in knowing that her memory will live on through her loved ones and the communities she served while working as an EMT for 14 years.” 

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Jose Gonzalez, 31, last of Creston Avenue, was sentenced to life in prison without parole by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus. Gonzalez was found guilty of first-degree Murder on March 8, 2023, after a nearly a one-month long jury trial. 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 Arroyo’s ambulance and she got out of the vehicle and spoke briefly to Gonzalez. 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. He crashed the vehicle into a snowbank and exited the ambulance. 

An on-duty MTA Police Officer, Daniel McDade, 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.