Wake Held In Bronx For Yadira Arroyo, EMT Killed In Line Of Duty
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mourners gathered in the Bronx Thursday to honor Yadira Arroyo, a FDNY EMT who was killed in the line of duty last week.
Services were held for Arroyo at the Joseph A. Lucchese Funeral Home on Morris Park Ave. in the Bronx.
As CBS2's Valerie Castro reported, members of the FDNY were still outside of the funeral home on Friday evening. They had been coming all afternoon to pay their respects.
"As you can see, even in her death she has managed to put us together," FDNY EMS Bronx Division Commander Chief Alvin Suriel said.
"I'm going to miss her, more than you guys could ever know," paramedic David Cadogan said.
Cadogan worked with Arroyo for the last 14 years. His last memory of her was from the day she passed.
"I get off at six in the morning. She walked in, we said our hello, greetings, and so forth, and I said goodbye, not knowing it was the last time I was going to see her," he said.
Another member of the department said Arroyo mentored him when he first became an EMT.
"Yadi was like the mother at our station. She always wanted to feed us, she always wanted to make sure we were fed, ready to go for our shift," Alex Tull said.
Her legacy was in her care for the people she served.
"A lot of time in this job we just go through the motions and go through each patient, but in working with her, she really cared about each individual patient," Tull said.
Members of her station house said the only place they find comfort now, is in each other.
"This hurts, this hurts. Our members have been rallying around each other. We go home, we can't sleep, we come back to the station because we only find comfort around each other," Cadogan said.
Facing her funeral this weekend has been perhaps the toughest test of their bond yet.
"Saturday is going to be a rough day for us, cause we're losing a sister. We're locing somebody that meant a lot more than words can really say," he said.
On Wednesday, nearly 200 emergency responders gathered at the Bronx criminal courthouse in solidarity and waited for Arroyo's accused killer, Jose Gonzalez, to appear for his scheduled court date.
However, the 25-year-old waived his court appearance, with his lawyer saying he was in poor health. A later court date was scheduled for April 5.
Gonzalez, who has more than 30 prior arrests, is accused of stealing Arroyo's ambulance last Thursday. Arroyo was working an extra shift responding to an emergency when she and her partner were told there was a man hanging on the back of the ambulance. When Arroyo and her partner tried to confront Gonzalez, police say he jumped into the driver's seat and ran Arroyo down.
Gonzalez is being held without bail. He is charged with murder, grand larceny and operation a vehicle impaired by drugs.
Alice Fontier, his defense attorney, told reporters after his arraignment Friday that what happened in this case was an accident.
Arroyo's supporters said they will be back.
"We are here and we will be at every court appearance," Israel Miranda, president of EMS Local Union 2057 said Monday. "We will be pursuing justice and we will not accept anything but justice."
The last week has been grueling for friends and family of Arroyo, who leaves behind five sons.
"It's none stop crying. Everybody's just been together. We still don't know how we're going to cope with it. But keeping her smile and her laugh in our heart is what's keeping us going," Jacqueline Benel, who worked with Arroyo at Station 26, told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.
Arroyo's funeral is set for 11 a.m. March 25 at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx.
She's the 1,146th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty.