A New York City emergency medical technician was killed on Thursday after a man stole the medic’s ambulance and ran her over, according to the New York Daily News.
The EMT, Yadira Arroyo, a 44-year-old mother of five and 14-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York, was struck by 25-year-old Jose Gonzalez around 7:10 p.m. in the Bronx, the Daily News reports. Gonzalez was reportedly riding on the back bumper of the ambulance when witnesses flagged down Arroyo and her partner, Monique Williams, 31.
“He reversed so hard and she was dragged,” witness Anis Nagi, 40, said, according to the Daily News. “He ran over her and she went under the wheels.”
Video of the scene shows Arroyo being dragged beneath the ambulance’s wheels for approximately 15 feet. She later died at the Bronx’s Jacobi Medical Center. Her partner, Williams, was treated for minor injuries, the Daily News reports.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the hospital that evening, later saying that Arroyo was “lost in the line of duty, bravely doing her job, encountering the kind of danger our EMTs should not have to confront,” according to the Daily News.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted: “EMTs are heroes who help countless New Yorkers every day. Tonight’s tragedy in the Bronx is horrible. My deepest sympathies to the family.”
Gonzalez was arrested by the New York Police Department and is charged with murder, grand larceny and driving while intoxicated.
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