Bronx man sentenced to life in prison for 2017 murder of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo
FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo was killed in the line of duty in March 2017. Credit: FDNY / Twitter
The Bronx man found guilty last month in the 2017 carjacking murder of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
Jose Gonzalez, 31, of Fordham Heights, had been convicted of first-degree murder of a first responder after a nearly monthlong jury trial, court records show.
“Today, Jose Gonzalez was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the horrific and senseless death of Yadira Arroyo, a mother of five," Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a statement Wednesday. "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."
The trial had been delayed multiple times for court hearings to determine the "mental fitness" of Gonzalez. He was first deemed unfit in May and sent to a psychiatric facility, before he was found fit to stand trial in September.
Prosecutors said that on March 16, 2017, Gonzalez hitched a ride on the back on Arroyo's ambulance in the vicinity of White Plains Road and Watson Avenue in the Bronx, then jumped off and stole a backpack from a young man. When the victim flagged down Arroyo and her partner, Arroyo got out and spoke briefly with Gonzalez. Officials said Arroyo and her partner were dealing with a pregnant woman in distress when Gonzalez jumped into the driver's seat and Arroyo promptly ordered him out.
Instead, prosecutors said, Gonzalez put the ambulance in reverse and drove over Arroyo, pinning her under the ambulance. Then he drove forward, dragging her across the intersection before slamming the ambulance into three cars and a snowbank.
Gonzalez was tackled as he tried to flee and arrested by an MTA officer with the assistance of civilians who had witnessed the carjacking.
Then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro called Arroyo, 44, a hero.
"In her final moments," he said, "Yadi was fighting for her patient. She was fighting to get her ambulance back so that she could continue on her call."
At Arroyo's funeral, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “We know her example lives on, and we know that her work lives on. She protected. She served. She gave her all every day."
Arroyo was the eighth emergency medical worker to die in the line of duty since the ambulance service merged with the FDNY in 1996.
Following the sentencing Wednesday, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said: “Yadira Arroyo was an extraordinary EMT who cared for her patients deeply — just as she was doing when she was brutally killed six years ago. We are grateful her killer will never be on the streets again, with no eligibility for parole. We join her family in our continued mourning of her loss and hope this sentencing can offer a pathway to healing for those who loved her. We will continue to honor her memory of service to our city.”
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”