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31-year-old Jose Gonzalez has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering EMT Yadira Arroyo back in 2017. Gonzalez ran over Arroyo several times on the street with her ambulance. Several victim impact statements were heard on Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court, shortly after which Gonzalez’s sentencing took place.
Yadira Arroyo was taken to the hospital. However, she was pronounced dead. Prosecutors claimed that they always confirmed that it was Gonzalez who drove the ambulance over Yadira Arroyo back in 2017.
Jose Gonzalez claimed to have been intoxicated and apologized for his actions that killed Yadira. However, Judge Martin Marcus gave him the maximum punishment of life imprisonment without parole. Arroyo has been described as “an extraordinary EMT who cared for her patients deeply.”
Jose Gonzalez claimed to be intoxicated when he ran over Yadira Arroyo several times and killed her back in 2017
Gonzalez was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday after being convicted of killing Yadira Arroyo. While Gonzalez claimed that he was high on marijuana and PCP and didn’t know what he was doing, Judge Martin Marcus gave him the maximum sentence and said:
“You drove back and forth, back and forth over the victim’s body until [she] was lifeless. It’s hard not to overstate the severity of the crime.”
Gonzalez mentioned:
“I never meant to hurt anyone, I was intoxicated, please forgive me. I never knew what was going on… I never meant to hurt anyone. It was an accident. I’m sorry.”
The case took years to come to a conclusion since Gonzalez was considered incompetent to stand trial and was ordered to be on a psychiatric stay in May 2022. He was finally deemed fit to stand trial in September 2022.
FDNY EMS Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay released a statement and said:
“This is a moment many of us thought to be far out of reach for years. Now that a sentence has finally been issued, it’s a blessing to know that Yadira’s family and colleagues can be at peace. She was a light in the EMS family taken too soon. It is a relief to finally have justice.”
Gonzalez was arrested a few times before the 2017 incident
On Wednesday, April 26, Yadira Arroyo’s family members and several colleagues were present in the courtroom and applauded after the judge declared the sentencing. It was revealed that Gonzalez had been arrested a couple more times, prior to the incident that killed Yadira Arroyo in 2017. Judge Marcus said:
“It is simply impossible to overstate the horrific nature of the crime. As she held onto the door… trying to get you out of the driver’s seat, you threw the ambulance into reverse, causing her to fall underneath it.”
Arroyo’s mother Leida Acevedo Rosado, left a message that read how the tragic 2017 slaying left five children without a mother. Rosado revealed that Arroyo’s youngest child was only seven years old and that he is now left with a “vague memory of her.”
