Man in EMT death has no clue: shrink
The career criminal accused of killing an FDNY emergency medical technician with her own ambulance does not understand the consequences he faces, a forensic psychiatrist testified Thursday.
Defendant Jose Gonzalez, 25, thinks that if he is declared unfit to stand trial for the murder of EMT Yadira Arroyo on a Bronx street, he will get out of jail in 30 or 90 days after a stint in the hospital, the psychiatrist, Melissa Kaye, said.
In fact, she said, a ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity would likely lead to a stay in a mental hospital for a period of time that would be possibly longer than the time he would serve for a pleaded sentence.
Kaye, in a Bronx courtroom, said Gonzalez has schizoaffective disorder, a combination of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. And while he “has some factual knowledge of his case,” he lacks rational understanding of the proceedings, she said.
Gonzalez is charged with murder, manslaughter and robbery for his deadly encounter with Arroyo on March 16, 2017.
He was allegedly high when he jumped on Arroyo’s rear bumper in Soundview. When the 44-year-old stepped out of the ambulance to investigate, Gonzalez got 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.
But Assistant DA George Suminski laid out the facts that Gonzalez was able to correctly recall during his examinations as proof of his fitness to stand trial, including the names of both Arroyo and her partner, Monique Williams.
But Judge Michael Gross called for another fitness exam, which annoyed some of Arroyo’s supporters.
“Unbelievable,” one of them muttered outside court.