The brother of the New Jersey cancer nurse killed a year ago after a madman knocked her down in Times Square is furious the killer still hasn’t been brought to justice.
Carlito Sta Maria, the younger brother of Maria Ambrocio, said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office told him “it could take a long time” before Jermaine Foster could be brought to justice, as he is now getting psychiatric treatment.
“They are gonna spend taxpayers’ money on a guy who killed my sister,” Sta Maria said. “I feel the guy needs to go to jail instead of going to a hospital. Hopefully, he is not going to get a slap on the wrist.”
Foster was charged with murder, robbery, and assault.
Ambrocio, 58, a native of the Philippines who worked at Bayonne Medical Center, was walking through Times Square with three others on Oct. 8, 2021, when Foster barreled into her after allegedly stealing a cellphone. The nurse was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with a head injury and died a day later.
“It’s (been) a year now and I can’t stop crying,” Sta Maria said through tears. “She got murdered.”
He hopes to return her ashes, now in a mausoleum in Jersey City, to their homeland.
Emelia Cruz, a nurse who was friends with Ambrocio, said she keeps reminders of her close.
“I carry mementos of her everywhere I go because she loved to travel,” she said. “I have her blouse, slippers, Mass card.”
Norma Lardizabal, who was with her friend that day, has temporarily returned to the Philippines “maybe to forget, but I cannot.”
“I’m still in pain. I’m still in shock,” Lardizabal said.