NO JUSTICE 4 YRS. AFTER SLAY OF BELOVED MEDIC
Kin & colleagues honor Arroyo as susp awaits trial
FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo lived to help the people of New York up until her final moments four years ago, when police say a career criminal ran her down with her own ambulance. As Arroyo’s family still waits for the criminal justice system to bring her alleged killer to trial, her colleagues and loved ones gathered Tuesday on the Bronx streetcorner where she died for a moment of silence in her memory. “I light this candle of tears in loving memory of our beloved Yadira. Each day when I wake up I come to the realization that you are no longer with us,” said her uncle David Malave. “As I try to carry on, my heart still aches with sadness and secret tears still flow. May the flame of this candle remind us of the love that will forever burn in our heart.” “We lost a woman of compassion. We lost a woman of kindness. We lost a woman of dedication,” FDNY EMS Chief Lillian Bonsignore said at the vigil. “We will never forget her. Yadira was a symbol of hope,” said Oren Barzilay, the president of FDNY EMS Local 2507. Barzilay said his union is still waiting for justice, and that the city should work harder to protect EMS workers. “We want the world to remember that she gave her life for her job,” A.J. Hernandez, also an uncle of Arroyo, told the Daily News. “I know my niece and I know for sure that when she saw that man get behind the wheel of her ambulance, she said, ‘I gotta do something’ out of concern that somebody else would get hurt if she didn’t stop him,” Hernandez said. The vigil at the corner of White Plains Road and Watson Ave. in Soundview included a moment of silence at 7:07 p.m., the minute before Arroyo’s death. The case against 29-year-old Jose Gonzalez, who’s charged with her murder, has dragged on for years, with the court holding hearing after hearing to determine if he’s mentally fit to stand trial.
And the coronavirus pandemic has caused further problems. The lockdown delayed an examination by an expert from the Bronx DA’s office, and prosecutors are awaiting that expert’s report, officials said. Gonzalez’s next appearance in Bronx Supreme Court is slated for March 23. “We continue to work for justice for Yadira Arroyo and her family,” DA Darcel Clark told The News Monday. Gonzalez was allegedly high when he jumped on Arroyo’s rear bumper in Soundview on March 16, 2017. The 44-year-old mother of five boys stepped out of the ambulance to investigate, and Gonzalez jumped behind the wheel and took off. He ran her over twice and dragged her into the intersection of White Plains Road and Watson Ave., prosecutors said. “Sadly, we’re going to mark the fourth anniversary of her death waiting for the court system to provide some justice for her injustice,” Hernandez said.