The bystander’s video starts with a chaotic scene: An ambulance runs through an intersection in New York, one of its doors open, lights flashing. It drags what appears to be a person trapped under the vehicle.
Authorities say the person stuck under it was Yadira Arroyo, 44, an emergency medical technician and mother of five who died in the incident in the Bronx on Thursday night.
Her partner was injured.
A 25-year-old Bronx man has been arrested in connection with her death, according to the New York Police Department.
Jose Gonzalez was charged Friday afternoon with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and first-degree robbery. His next court date is scheduled for Wednesday.
“Yadira Arroyo spent 14 years saving lives in the Bronx and was killed in such a senseless, horrific way,” Bronx County District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
The DA’s office said Gonzalez has a long history of misdemeanors in the Bronx, including two pending cases.
On Thursday night as he was being taken out of a police station to a car, Gonzalez said: “I’m innocent. I didn’t do nothing.”
‘He ran over our … EMT’
The incident Thursday night started when a man jumped on the ambulance’s bumper as the vehicle was on its way to respond to a call, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
A passing motorist alerted the EMTs to the man riding on the back of the ambulance, he said.
When Arroyo and her partner exited the vehicle to investigate, the man jumped inside, according to authorities.
He put the vehicle in reverse and ran over Arroyo, authorities said.
“They got out to see what has happening,” Nigro said. “This person in turn went around the other side of the ambulance and got into the driver’s side … they tried to get him out of the ambulance, he put it in reverse he struck the one EMT who was injured, and he ran over our other EMT and she was subsequently killed.”
The ambulance then stopped after it crashed into parked cars and a pile of snow, video posted on social media shows.
“It’s a sad night for everybody in the department,” Nigro said. “This person has no business being in this ambulance.”
“We lost a good woman”
An off-duty Metropolitan Transportation Authority officer and several good Samaritans apprehended the suspect when he tried to flee, authorities said.
“A lot of heroism was on display today amidst a real tragedy,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“We lost a good woman,” he said.
“Saving lives and caring for New Yorkers was her calling,” the NYPD said in a tweet.
The second EMT, a 30-year-old woman, suffered minor injuries, and is listed in stable condition.
Arroyo is the eighth member of New York’s emergency medical services ever to die in the line of duty, Nigro said.
Of the eight fatalities, three have been women.