52 Lock Up, In honor of, FDNY Yadira Arroyo

Welcome back to 52 Lock Up, I am your Appletini Cadma of Bitten Apple TV. 52 lock up is a series I started to talk about one of my biggest passions of true crime. A new episode on every Cadmaniac Monday for 52 Mondays, 52 crimes. Hope you guys enjoy, be sure to like, leave some feedback and subscribe; Viewer discretion is always advised.

The kick off of 1972 would give birth to who would become a first responder hero. Born on January 1st 1972 was Yadira Arroyo in Brooklyn, NY to Leída Acevedo Rosado. Her and her mother would have an incredibly close relationship; they were like best friends.

Yadira would have her first son Jose Montes in 1994 then Edgar and the next to follow would be Kenneth in 1999. She had 2 younger sons born in 2001 and the youngest in 2010. She was known for being an incredible mother and always doting on her family. Unfortunately, she still had to maintain being a single mother over the years; but she was nothing short of amazing. Judging from the countless descriptions of her, I’m not even sure if being left in awe or amazing or inspiring is enough to describe this incredible woman.

In 2003, at the age of 30 Yadira sought out a career in EMS; the acronym is short for Emergency Medical Services. This means she is a first responder and she is the face you would see when you do something stupid, dangerous, get a boo boo; she’s the wee woo taxi driver. She dedicate 14 hard working years the FDNY; Fire Department New York. Saving lives left and right; because not all heroes wear capes right. She held a strong passion to being an EMT and took great pride in her job. She comes from a family of caregivers. Her uncle was a FDNY medic. Her aunt became a registered nurse. Her mother was a nursing assistant who encouraged her passion for medicine.

She would even motivate her half brother Joel Rosado to become an EMT and helped him get through his class to graduate. “I followed her steps,” Rosado said. “I did it because I want to be like her. I went with her to work, and I seen what she did every day. It inspired me. She taught me everything, how to put on oxygen, how to do everything. I knew it was meant to be for me.” Another medic named Anastasia Rabos considered Yadira to be a great mentor and wonderful friend. She was such a motivation and brought so much everywhere she went that Lt. George Lampon called Yadira the "matriarch" of her station. She’s like a Mama Medic. Even her sister engaged to an EMT and one of her nephews was training to become an EMT as well down the line. When I tell you it is a family of Medics and healthcare workers, a family of caregivers; I mean a family of caregivers.

For those who do not know what an EMT does let me break it down. EMT’s, Medics respond to hundreds of daily emergencies. They are there for your 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rain, snow, hail, fire hailing from the sky. When you dial 911 they are there for you when someone is having a seizure whether it’s partial or tonic clonic seizures, when someone is going into cardiac arrest; they are fighting to keep your soul tied to your body as they work to achieve ROSC (Return of Spontaneous Circulation). When someone goes into cardiac arrest, you’re clinically dead so when they perform CPR, they want to achieve ROSC because it will bring the person back. The brain will die very quickly and the goal is to achieve minimal damage as much as possible. They are coming to your aide for domestic violence victims, the intoxicated, the diabetic, delivering babies, assisting rape victims, victims from a fire, stabbings, shootings, confronting people threatening their lives from being armed with knives, box cutters, guns, baseball bats; and NYC classic junkies who hate them for killing their high with Narcan. Which if you remember my previous episodes discussing about opioids that are central nervous system suppressants; the body is slowing down and Naloxone or Narcan knocks opioids off the receptors to get the body to do what it needs to do to survive like breathing. When there is a crisis, EMT’s are called whether you’re talking 9/11 or hurricanes like Sandy or Katrina, flooding in California and so much more.

Yadira Arroyo was on-duty with her partner Monique Williams in the Bronx. Dispatch calls in about a call shortly after 7 p.m. on March 16th, 2017 working an overtime tour; to what I believe was a pregnant woman on Soundview according to some news articles. I can not confirm this information. However, on the FDNY website it is stated that a passerby alerted the ambulance to a 25 year old man riding on the rear bumper of their ambulance. This is dangerous because surfing like this in the city can cause injury. He is in their blind spot. They stopped their bus at the intersection of Watson Avenue and White Plains Road to investigate what was going on. As soon as they exited the vehicle, the man ran around and into the driver side of the ambulance. Monique would run to fight with the man to get him out of her ambulance. Monique was trying to pull the man’s hands off of the steering wheel when he managed to kick the ambulance into reverse. He backed up into another car & knocked over Yadira and she fell; she was not in Monique’s sight. The vehicle would move forward and Monique recalls the bumps of the ambulance and realizing something was very wrong. He would run over Yadira and drag her body into the intersection; trying to take off with their ambulance. Monique would state later on "When we started to go forward, I felt some tumbling underneath us…I ran over to her to try to get her up…She didn’t get up. I stayed there with her. She didn’t move no more, so I just stood there with her." Both women were struck by their own ambulance but Yadira Arroyo would be the one to pass; leaving Monique in shock and hospitalized.

The man would crash into 5 vehicles in total. He attempts to flee the scene and he got out of the vehicle; he would allegedly begin to fight with the gathering crowd. He attempted to throw a punch before another man grabbed him and threw him to the ground; which was MTA Officer Daniel McDade who was off-duty. He was able to pin him down with the additional help of 2 more citizens as he tried to flee. Later a photo of the man’s initial perp walk, he was led out of an NYPD precinct following his arrest showed him sporting a black and bruised right eye. 

Police officers responding to the incident found Yadira lying in the roadway unconscious and unresponsive with trauma to her body. She was taken to Jacobi hospital in critical condition, where she was pronounced dead. Yadira was the eighth member of the FDNY EMS to die in the line of duty and the third woman. Her brother Joel whom she motivated to become an EMT to begin with got the call immediately about her death; he would fly to the hospital as fast he could to see her. Overnight fellow members of the FDNY saluted her body was being removed from Jacobi Medical Center Hospital, where hours before they rushed to be by her side.

Who was this murder? His name is Jose Gonzalez jr. New Yorkers would learn that Jose Gonzalez had many run-ins with police prior to her death. He did not have any serious felonies on his records but he was arrested 31 times with 6 of them where he was referred to as an EDP; emotionally disturbed person. There multiple resources exclaiming he was also a member of the Blood’s street gang. His father in court would state that his son suffered from a bipolar disorder and that for years he tried to get him help; but the system failed him. His attorney would state that he was severely mentally ill; due to states from Jose Gonzalez about running from the Illuminati, saving the medics life’s and how God is talking to him.

Three weeks prior to her death Jose had been accused of kicking out the back window of a police van and trying to punch an officer. The judge in that case had released him, even though he was already awaiting his trial on separate assault charges; that decision was put under the microscope following Yadira’s death.

Initially from his arrest at the crime scene he was taken to Rikers Island but was transferred to Bellevue. It would take 6 years almost to the day of her death for him to be completely convicted. His attorney tried to explain it was mental illness and drugs but here’s the problem, video would show Jose darting out of an apartment building, running up to the ambulance and hopping on the back bumped. He is seen peering into the back window before jumping down and running for the sidewalk. Later the suspect would be tested and found positive for phencyclidine (PCP), a hallucinogen that can induce a type of psychosis.

Ok, let’s think about bi-polar disorder. Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression). When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania), you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think clearly.

Now what about PCP/angel dust, it was actually originally developed in the 1950s as a surgical anesthetic and was soon discontinued after it was discovered to cause agitation and mania, hallucinations, and irrational thinking in patients following its use. It is labeled as a Schedule 2 controlled substance because it is an extremely likely to be abused and can lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. People may be imprisoned for making, distributing, possessing, and using it. We have neurotransmitters in our brain and PCP affects multiple neurotransmitter systems. Like inhibiting the reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin; which means the hormone stay out in the open longer. Think of it as being socially shy and your friend won’t let you go hide. It will also inhibit the action of glutamate by blocking NMDA receptors, those are the messengers for emotions, learning, memory and of course pain sensation, Without those sensations, the brain begins to disconnect from reality.

The jury found him guilty on March 8th, 2023 of first degree murder.

In honor of Yadira let me list the number of things that occurred within that 6 year wait for justice. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced it would be donating $100,000 to set up a trust fund for her kids. Which if you’re unfamiliar is an organization, that began as a way to honor fallen 9/11 firefighters; and they were still asking for the public’s help.

Since her death her family has partnered up every year with FDNY and NYPD’s 43rd Precinct to organize a toy giveaway for the community in the Bronx in honor of Yadira. Inside the Blueprint Middle School’s gym were row of children lining up for toys from even Mattel, Spinmaster, Jazz Wears, Under Armour and even Hess Trucks; stated by Jillian Crane the President and CEO of First Responders Children’s Foundation.

Her kids were honored with Former Jets player Willie Colon at their mother’s EMS station house 26 so they could announce one of the Jet’s fourth round draft picks; Kenneth announced that with the 141st pick in the NFL Draft, was that the Jets selected wide receiver Chad Hansen.

Her son Kenneth (age 18) and Edgar (age 21) was motivated by his mother’s heroism and wants to carry on his mother’s legacy; he’s following in her footsteps to become a medic. In 2017 the year of her death, Kenneth began training at Code One Training school; he intended to apply and train and test to become a firefighter. He said he knew his plans would bring a smile to his mother’s face.

The family would receive an all-expense paid trip to Disney World thanks to a New Jersey Charity Foundation called Bianca’s Kids; that also had a ceremony in honor of her. If you would like to go to the FDNY-EMT Yadira Arroyo Playground in the Bronx; you would look up the address 1954 Watson Ave, The Bronx, NY 10472. She is a legacy to be reckoned with.

Did you know that since 1994, eight emergency medical workers have been killed in the line of duty and Yadira would be Number 8 at the time. New Yorkers remember Last year in 2022, how Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, a 24-year veteran just shy of her retirement, was stabbed to death by a man outside her station in Queens. In 2018, warning signs began to be displayed prominently on the sides of emergency vehicles to help curb attacks by warning that any attack on EMTS and paramedics is automatically a felony charge which is punishable by 7 years alone.

Reading from Norwood news they listed Patient to FDNY Employee Workplace Violence Incidents 2018: 107 and then 2019: 142, following up with the pandemic 2020 with 226, and in 2021 up to 237. Those numbers are just the patients to FDNY, let’s look at a Member of the Public to FDNY Employee Workplace Violence Incidents. 2018: 22 incidents 2019: 49, 2020: 65 and 2021 with 126 incidents. These numbers only account for FDNY; this doesn’t include other places that employ EMT’s especially considering that here are 24, 996 Ambulance Services in the US as of this year 2023; with an increase of 0.2% from 2022.

There are so many factors that went into Yadira’s death from Jose being released to potentially being bi-polar and not receiving the help his father said the system failed him on; was the access to drugs that allowed his brain to disconnect with reality. What do you think?

And as always, stay vigilant and stay safe

References

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