March 9, 2023 The verdict came eight days before the sixth anniversary of the brutal death of beloved EMT Yadira Arroyo.
By Kerry Burke, Larry McShane Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A deranged defendant with a lengthy rap sheet was convicted Wednesday for murdering a beloved Bronx FDNY emergency medical technician with her own hijacked ambulance, ending a nearly six-year wait for justice by her heartbroken family and friends.
Jose Gonzalez, 31, heard the jury verdict following a monthlong trial and two days of deliberations in the gruesome killing of veteran EMT Yadira Arroyo, the mother of five sons. He stood impassively as the late afternoon decision was announced.
The drug-addled Gonzalez was charged with first-degree murder for twice running down the first responder with her stolen truck in the March 16, 2017 killing that shocked the city and devastated her colleagues.
Co-workers wept in the courtroom and shared hugs outside with the victim’s family once the defendant was found guilty of killing the devoted 44-year-old mom.
“It just brings solace,” said Ali Acevedo Hernandez, the victim’s aunt. “… Yes, it makes me feel good in a sense. I’m full of emotions.”
The decision came eight days before the sixth anniversary of the killing of the veteran lifesaver, revered by her co-workers. The case was repeatedly delayed by more than 50 hearings before Gonzalez was finally deemed mentally fit to face a Bronx jury.
“This case has dragged on for nearly six long years, but finally we can breathe knowing that justice for our EMT sister, Yadira Arroyo, has been served,“ said Oren Barzilay, president of her union, FDNY EMS Local 2507. “The outcry of support and love for her family has been massive and at last, they can rest.”
The trial began last month following a pitched legal battle where defense lawyers unsuccessfully argued he was too sick to stand trial. A sentencing date of April 5 was set for the defendant, who could face life without parole for the slaying.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark thanked the Arroyo family for their patience as the case wound its tortuous path through the legal system. She recalled the tears in her own eyes after learning about the murder.
“She was a hero out there, doing her job, serving the public,” the top prosecutor said. “We finally got justice for her. …. To be taken away like that was so unfair. So to get this justice today means everything to me and to this family.”
Arroyo was a 14-year FDNY EMS veteran assigned to Station 26 when she went to work on overtime on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, with prosecutor Michael Schordine recounting the horrifying details of her final tour of duty in his opening argument.
“Dragged by the rear wheel down the street,” he told jurors. “She was dead, never to finish her shift. This wasn’t a tragic accident. … This was so much more. It wasn’t an accident, it was a murder.”
Jurors watched a video of the fatal encounter between Arroyo and the oft-arrested suspect with a rap sheet of 31 prior busts. Arroyo’s distraught co-worker was seen screaming “my f—ing partner!” as an off-duty MTA police officer and bystanders tackled a fleeing Gonzalez.
During one pretrial hearing last year, Gonzalez insisted Arroyo’s death was an accident and denounced the prosecutor as a satanist. His first court appearance came in April 2017, when he pleaded innocent.
FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is among those satisfied by the guilty verdict.
“For the last six years, the family of EMT Yadira Arroyo has lived with the heartbreak of her murder at the hands of Jose Gonzalez,” Kavanagh said. “…We are grateful to the Bronx district attorney and the jurors who have found him guilty — and know this justice is one step to help all those who loved Yadi heal.”
The details of Arroyo’s killing remained fresh despite the passage of time.
She was working with partner Monique Williams when they spotted Gonzalez riding on the back of their truck around 7:15 p.m. near the corner of Watson Ave. and White Plains Road in the Soundview section.
When the EMTs pulled over, Gonzalez jumped off the vehicle and tried to rob a passing man’s backpack, authorities said. When Arroyo got out to investigate, Gonzalez climbed inside the ambulance and mowed her down twice.
Trial witnesses recounted Gonzalez bizarrely reciting the alphabet once bystanders tackled him and before he was placed inside a police car where he apparently passed out.
“For the last six years, the family of EMT Yadira Arroyo has lived with the heartbreak of her murder at the hands of Jose Gonzalez. Today, we are grateful to the Bronx district attorney and the jurors who have found him guilty — and know this justice is one step to help all those who loved Yadi heal,” said Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.
