THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) – Jose Gonzalez, the man who ran over an FDNY EMT with her own ambulance in the Bronx in 2017, was found guilty of murder Wednesday.
Gonzalez, 31, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Yadira Arroyo, a 14-year veteran of the department and a mother of five children.
“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,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said in a statment.
Arroyo was killed near Watson Avenue and White Plains Road on March 16, 2017. Gonzalez had hopped onto the back of Arroyo’s ambulance and rode on it, then jumped off and stole a man’s backpack, according to police. The robbery victim flagged down Arroyo’s ambulance and she got out to speak with Gonzalez.
“[Gonzalez] 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,” the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
An off-duty MTA police officer who was nearby confronted Gonzalez, tackled him and handcuffed him, with the help of other civilians, officials said.
Gonzalez pleaded not guilty during a 2017 arraignment. However, he was deemed unfit to stand trial.
But in the fall of 2022, health officials “determined him to be no longer an incapacitated person,” and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark vowed to move forward with the case.
“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,” Clark said in a statement Wednesday. “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.”
Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5.
PIX11’s Aaron Feis contributed to this report.
