The partner of FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo screamed helplessly over her slain co-worker after a drug-addled career criminal ran her down with her ambulance on a Bronx street, prosecutors alleged Wednesday as the long-delayed trial finally began.
Bronx Assistant District Attorney George Suminski, in an opening statement nearly six years after the March 16, 2017, killing that rattled the city and the colleagues of Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo, recounted the gruesome details of the first responder’s final tour of duty.
“Dragged by the rear wheel down the street,” said Suminski. “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.”
Defendant Jose Gonzalez Jr. arrived for opening statements inside the Bronx courthouse in a knit skull cap and thick beard, with his attorney suggesting the accused killer was in the “middle of a psychotic episode” when he hijacked the vehicle and killed 14-year FDNY veteran Arroyo.
Arroyo, the mother of five boys and a revered figure among her colleagues, was pronounced dead after the attack where the defendant jumped on the back of her ambulance.
A video of the incident played in court showed Arroyo’s co-worker Monique Williams howling “My f—ing partner!” amidst the wild scene after the deadly encounter.
Suminski said Arroyo and Williams had actually treated the accused killer for a hand injury after he jumped on the back of their ambulance as they drove through the Bronx around 7 p.m. Gonzalez had just stolen a man’s backpack before hopping onto the vehicle, he said.
“That’s where she had been for 14 years,” said Suminski. “Being where she needed to be to help people. Murdered by the defendant.”
The case dragged across more than 50 ensuing hearings before Gonzalez was finally found fit for trial, with a court date set last September after seemingly endless legal wrangling on his mental competence for trial.
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Dueling mental health evaluations by both defense and prosecution experts found the defendant both fit and unfit for trial.
Gonzalez had 31 prior arrests before the killing, and faces charges of murder, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs .
The defendant’s first court appearance in the case came in April 2017, when he pleaded not guilty. A series of hearings ensued, with the victim’s family frustrated by the long-running delays in the case.
During one bizarre court appearance last March, Gonzalez insisted he ran over the beloved Arroyo by accident — before blaming her partner for the death and denouncing a Bronx prosecutor handling the case as a Satanist.
Arroyo’s relatives and members of FDNY EMS turned out for every hearing as the case dragged on, with numerous psychiatric examinations and postponements as they waited for the trial to begin.
Arroyo, 44, was with her partner driving through the Bronx when they spotted Gonzalez riding on the back of their ambulance. Once they pulled over, Arroyo stepped outside to investigate — only to see Gonzalez climb inside the vehicle, throw the ambulance in reverse and run her down.
The callous killer then allegedly put the vehicle in drive and ran over Arroyo one more time before an off-duty MTA police officer and several bystanders tackled Gonzalez as he tried to flee.