A boy killed on his electric dirt bike in a crash with an SUV driver in South Harlem had plans to celebrate his recent 13th birthday with his family at a water park the next day.
Kayvon Jones crashed on W. 112th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., just a couple blocks from his home in the Taft Houses, about 8:50 p.m. Thursday, cops said.
“This just don’t feel real,” Kayvon’s aunt posted on social media Friday. “You just turned 13 on Tuesday. We brang in your bday together!!! We supposed to be at the water park turning up today.”
Kayvon was riding down W. 112th St. on a Razor MX350 Dirt Rocket when he tried to maneuver around a vehicle turning left onto Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., cops said.
The boy swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with a Chevy Tahoe driver going in the opposite direction on W. 112th St., cops said.
Kayvon Jones crashed on W. 112th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., just a couple blocks from his home, about 8:50 p.m. Thursday. (Rebecca White/New York Daily News)
Kayvon was thrown from the bike, striking his head. Medics rushed him in critical condition to Harlem Hospital, where he died.
“I saw him when he and his friend left out of here that day. He was in a good mood. He and his friends was going to ride their little dirt bike. He enjoyed that (bike),” said Charles Davis, 74 who lives in the same building as the victim’s family.
A memorial was set up outside the boy’s apartment building. Jackie Stevens, who also lives in the building, said that classmates and friends came by on Friday, creating a “big crowd.”
A memorial for 13-year-old Kayvon Jones outside his home on Fifth Ave. in Harlem. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
“He lives here. Been living here for years. It’s sad. Sad. He just became a teenager. It’s sad,” Stevens, 79 said.
“I feel devastated. That broke my heart. He was like a son to me. He was a good boy. He didn’t bother nobody,” Davis said. “He had a sweet personality. Him and his sister, they was always together. They was always with their mother and she is a good person too.”
A memorial for 13-year-old Kayvon Jones in the lobby of his family’s building in the Taft Houses in Harlem. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
A 14-year-old boy riding on the back of Kayvon’s dirt bike with him suffered a leg injury. Medics took him to Mount Sinai Morningside in stable condition.
The electric dirt bike model has a maximum speed of 14 mph, according to online sales listings.