OUR CITY WEEPS
Thousands join family to salute fallen EMT
Family of slain EMT share joy & agony
ON A DAY OF bitter tears and broken hearts, the mother of slain EMT Yadira Arroyo provided mourners at her hero daughter’s funeral with an antidote to their sadness.
“Think of Yari,” a weepy Leida Rosado told the devastated family, friends and firefighters filling the pews of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church.
“If you see her face and your first instinct is to smile, she’s done her work here on Earth.”
The mother’s message, read by a relative at the emotional Bronx funeral, provided an uplifting finish to a two-hour service where Arroyo’s sobbing EMT partner couldn’t speak — and her eldest son earned an ovation.
The toll of Arroyo’s horrific death was most evident on colleague Monique Williams, whose weeping echoed through the church as she stood in the pulpit to deliver a Bible reading.
Williams, her white-gloved hands covering her face, was too distraught to speak before the packed house. She clutched a Kleenex in one hand as she was helped away from the altar and hugged by Arroyo’s boyfriend.
Williams was working alongside Arroyo on the day of her death. Mayor de Blasio was one of several speakers who followed Williams to the altar, giving voice to the citywide mourning.
“Our hearts are broken by the loss, but our hearts are filled with an appreciation, respect and honor for all she did,” de Blasio said in his eulogy.
“When we faced danger, she was there. Now she’s been taken from us.”
Arroyo’s 19-year-old son Kenneth Robles, an aspiring EMT, wept on the church steps after the funeral when presented with his mother’s FDNY helmet.
“She was a hero,” said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. “She died as one, but most importantly, she lived as one.”
The 14-year veteran EMT left behind five sons, with the youngest just 7. Her oldest son brought the mourners to their feet cheering with his recollections of Arroyo.
The Bronx mom “made me as tough and as gentle, as wise and as curious as I am now,” said Jose Montes, 24. “She taught me how to listen, because she always listened. She was always the only person who truly understood me.”
He also drew laughs by recounting how his mother insisted on getting in the last word whenever they spoke. Montes recalled finally declaring “goodbye” — and immediately hanging up the phone.
“I snuck it in,” he recalled. “And then I got a text from her. It said ‘bye-bye!’”
The Bronx sendoff started with the EMT’s final ride in the back of an FDNY ambulance that delivered her casket past thousands of colleagues lining the blocks along University Ave.
The quiet morning was interrupted only by the mournful sounds of the bagpipes and slowly beating drums of the FDNY EMS band, performing for the first time at a line-of-duty funeral for one of its own.
De Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Nigro stood with their hands over their hearts as an honor guard carried the casket from the ambulance festooned with black and purple bunting.
Two dozen members of the FDNY stood in a single-file line outside the church entrance as her American flag-draped casket was brought up seven steps into the Gothic-style stone building.
The assembled first responders raised their right hands to their white hats in unison, a final salute to their fallen comrade, as her casket went past and “Amazing Grace” played.
“Your mother leaves behind an incredible legacy of service and lives saved,” said Nigro, addressing the sons directly in his remembrance. “We are a greater city because of how nobly she served. God bless Yari Arroyo.”
Chaplain Chris Keenan sounded a positive note in his eulogy for the 44-year-old Arroyo.
“Yari’s love is in the hearts of many of us here, and now in the millions of hearts in our city, our country and our world,” said Keenan.
Keenan, with both hands on Arroyo’s casket, offered his final thought: “Yadira, we’re all here to welcome you home.”
The chaplain then bent down and kissed the casket.
More than 10,000 first responders from across the country attended the funeral for the first EMT killed in the line of duty since 2005.
The funeral came nine days after a schizophrenic with a 31-arrest rap sheet stole Arroyo’s ambulance — and then ran her over twice with the FDNY vehicle.
Suspect Jose Gonzalez, 25, remained behind bars on a murder charge.
Montes closed his thoughtful and funny eulogy by addressing his siblings, his mother and the people who knew the family.
“She can’t take care of me anymore, but she left behind people who can,” said a choked-up Montes. “So I know I’ll be all right, and my brothers will too.
“You will forever be in my heart,” Montes continued. “Mommy’s OK guys, and we’re all OK because we have each other.”