NEW YORK — A judge on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison without parole the man who was found guilty of killing paramedic Yadira Arroyo in the Bronx when he tried to rob the ambulance she was driving in 2017 and then ran over her.
José González was found guilty of first degree murder on March 8 for killing Arroyo, who had worked for the New York City Fire Department for 14 years. The tragedy occurred on March 16, 2017 when González Arroyo and his co-worker noticed that González was riding in the back of his ambulance, police said.
“We describe all the feelings we have gone through for the last 6 years and we ask the judge for the pain we have felt and for the crime he committed to give him the maximum sentence,” Arroyo’s aunt told Telemudno 47 after sentence. “It was like a weight that fell from my body, because justice was finally done,” she added when she learned that González received the maximum sentence.
“My daughter is still a great person for me, she was my best friend. Justice was done,” said Arroyo’s mother.
It happened in a construction zone.
At that point they got out to investigate, and González jumped into the driver’s seat, put the vehicle in reverse and ran over Arroyo. He then advanced and dragged the 44-year-old woman to an intersection in White Plains Road y Watson Avenue.
The mother of five, who worked at EMS Station No. 26 in the Bronx, was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Arroyo, affectionately known as Yadi, was a single mother when she decided to become a paramedic inspired by her own mother, according to her brother Joel Rosado, also a paramedic.
A passing MTA police officer witnessed the crash and immediately stopped and subdued the suspect with the help of bystanders, authorities said.
Gonzalez had 31 prior arrests and four prior misdemeanors on his record, authorities said. He faced a series of charges including first degree murder, manslaughter and robbery.
The trial had been delayed several times after Gonzalez’s attorney said in the past that his client had a serious mental illness. In September, González was deemed fit to stand trial by medical professionals. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said at the time that Gonzalez was evaluated at the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center and it was determined that he was no longer considered “an incapacitated person.”
“Overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed with a lot of emotions,” Arroyo’s aunt, Ali Acevedo-Hernandez, said after the guilty verdict. “We waited six years with ups and downs, anger, despair, excitement, agony. We finally made it.”
Gonzalez’s defense attorneys did not deny that their client killed Arroyo, but said he should not have been convicted of murder because he was under PCP influence at the time.
Jurors deliberated for six hours after weeks of presenting evidence and witness testimony in court. Arroyo’s family was in court during the arraignment when the jury sent six notes to the judge asking him to play cellphone and surveillance video of the deadly incident.
Jurors also wanted to hear testimony Gonzalez provided hours after he was arrested, as well as testimony from Monique Williams, Arroyo’s partner. They asked the judge for the legal definition of fraud.
“She was a first responder, but more importantly, she was a hero. Out there doing her job serving the public, and losing her life in this way means so much that today, almost six years later, we finally get justice.” for her,” Clark said.
2023-04-26 15:53:42
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