The brother of a slain EMT will continue his sister's FDNY legacy. And he'll do it while working out of her former station and wearing her retired badge number.
Probationary EMT Joel Rosado, who graduated from the FDNY EMS Academy on Thursday, is the younger brother of EMT Yadira Arroyo. She was a 14-year FDNY veteran who was killed on duty in March 2017 when a man who had been riding on the rear bumper of Arroyo's ambulance took control of the vehicle and ran her down.
"She is the one who inspired me to join the Department," Rosado, 32, said. "She was always telling me how it was the best job and what a difference you could make in this world. She always came home from work happy."
Rosado—who was an EMT at the time of Arroyo's death but hadn't applied to the FDNY's academy—has been assigned to the department's EMS Station 26, where his sister worked in the Bronx, the New York Daily News reports. He also has been assigned her 2017 badge number.
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"I feel very honored to be wearing her badge number," he said. "Now it is like she is always with me."
According to the Daily News, Rosado didn't draw attention to his relationship to Arroyo during his four months at the academy in order to avoid any possible special treatment. But now that he's a part of the department, little brother wants to make sure he lives up to the example big sister has set.
" I know she would be so proud of me, we were always so close," he said. "I have big shoes to fill and I can’t wait to get out there and make her proud."
