BRONX, NY – Yesterday, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that Jose Gonzalez, 31, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder of FDNY Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo in 2017. Arroyo, a mother of five, was run over by her own ambulance when Gonzalez hijacked the vehicle in March of that year.
The sentencing brings closure to the victim’s family and FDNY colleagues, who have awaited justice for six years. 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, before being deemed fit to stand trial in September 2022.
Arroyo’s partner, who was in the passenger seat, told Gonzalez to get out of the ambulance. 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. The case was prosecuted by George Suminski, Homicide Counsel in the Homicide Bureau, and Michael Schordine, Deputy Chief of Trial Bureau 60.