Injured partner of slain FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo recalls how the tragic day unfolded

Stunned former partner of slain ambulance Yadira Arroyo told a Bronx court on Tuesday how an ordinary day suddenly turned tragic when a deranged man stole their ambulance.

Monique Williams recounted to jurors in painful detail how she and Arroyo, the beloved 44-year-old mother of five, were on their way to a call involving a pregnant woman when a passing motorist signaled to them that the man was riding their bumper down White. Plains Road around 19:00 March 16, 2017.

FDNY medics stopped to investigate, she said, and the next thing they knew was that 25-year-old suspect Jose Gonzalez was running and jumping while driving their ambulance.

“I remember her screaming, “Oh hell no!” Williams said of Arroyo.

“I tried to take his hand off the wheel,” Williams said in the courtroom, where about 50 paramedics watched Gonzalez, who was allegedly high on PCP at the time of the crime.

According to Williams, Gonzalez was able to start the ambulance even as he fought two medics.

Another witness said the suspect suddenly reversed the ambulance and crashed into the car before running out into the intersection. It was then that Arroyo fell and was dealt a fatal blow by an ambulance.

Williams said she noticed immediately that she was no longer hearing her buddy “Yadi”.

“I lost sight of her,” said the former medic, who retired on the day of the horror. “As we started moving forward, I felt someone tumble under us.”

She found Arroyo lying motionless on the ground.

“I ran over to her to try and pick her up,” Williams said quietly. “She didn’t get up. I stayed there with her. She didn’t move anymore, so I just stood next to her.”

Arroyo’s aunt, Ali Acevedo-Hernandez, later told The Post outside of court that the emotional story brought her to tears.

“What struck me … was when [Williams] said she felt something fall under the wheels,” Acevedo-Hernandez said. “And I know it was Yadi.

Acevedo-Hernandez, who said she had to close Arroyo’s eyes in the hospital after her death, added that she wants Gonzalez to pay for what he did.

“I see no remorse,” she said. “I don’t see any pity, I don’t see any remorse. I can not see anything. I just see an empty shell of a person. He can’t even take responsibility for what he did.”

At one point during Tuesday’s trial, prosecutors showed gruesome photographic evidence of the ambulance’s driver’s side covered in blood and a broken headlight on the driver’s side, causing the medic crowd to gasp loudly.

Another witness who testified, 43-year-old real estate agent Demetrius Perez, said that after Arroyo was mowed down, Gonzalez got out of the ambulance and started fighting with the quickly assembled crowd.

“I remember him trying to… get hit and then the guy grabbed him and threw him to the ground,” Perez said.

Prosecutors charged Gonzalez with first-degree manslaughter, robbery, manslaughter while using a vehicle, and drunk driving.

Last year, he was declared unfit for trial, but in September, medical officials at the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center overturned that decision.

Surveillance video produced by the defense showed that Gonzalez walked to the driver’s side door, opened it, and climbed inside. But the SUV hid the fallen Arroyo before the ambulance moved off.

Louis Montalvo, an ER doctor who has known Arroyo for nearly two decades, told The Post on Tuesday that “Yadi’s name needs justice.”

“The city needs justice,” Montalvo said. “Her sons need justice. Her family needs justice. We need justice. And we are not going to stop until justice is done. We’ll be here every day.”