A 22-year-old Staten Island man loved doing tricks and stunts on his motorcycle — but was killed in a crash while just riding his Harley to work, heartbroken friends and family said.
Jordan Yulfo made it only blocks away from his home in Eltingville on his 2006 Harley Davidson when he was killed in a crash with a 2017 Ford Fusion about 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday.
Yulfo and the driver were heading in opposite directions on Arthur Kill Road when the sedan driver took a left turn onto Armstrong Ave. and they collided, cops said.
Yulfo was on his way to his job as a Snapple deliveryman, his family says, when he was ejected from his motorcycle and hit the pavement.
“People just jump to the assumption right away that the kid was doing something stupid,” said Yulfo’s 30-year-old brother, Justin Doyle. “The one day he was just doing the right thing, just driving to work, this happens.”
Yulfo was an organ donor but most of his body was destroyed in the crash. Among his body parts that were fit to be donated included some skin off his back, bone tissue and “his baby blue eyes,” which were given to two people, his mother said.
“He was a selfless young man,” his mother, Lisa Yulfo, said. “I never wanted to be in this bracket. My kids are supposed to bury me, not me bury them. I’m heartbroken.”
The 54-year-old Ford driver has not been charged as cops continue to investigate the crash.
Jordan was the youngest of six siblings, with three brothers and two sisters. Lisa recalled spending time with him the day before he was killed.
“We went to go clean out his car and he let me play my playlist,” she recalled. “We had a dance party in the car, driving, singing out loud.”
“If I can have even five minutes more of that — that last hug — I would give my life,” she added. “He was amazing. He had a heart of gold. He had a million dollar smile.”
Doyle said an app on his brother’s phone shows he was traveling 34 mph in the 30-mph zone just before the crash.
“This is so surreal right now. I’m talking to you fine, the next moment I’ll be breaking down,” Doyle said. “I was just talking to my brother. He was so happy and so free. He was just the life of the party. Anyone who speaks about him will literally say the same thing.”
A friend of Jordan’s was driving past the scene when she recognized the wreckage of his Harley and alerted his mother.
As Yulfo’s friends and family gathered at Staten Island University Hospital, where he died shortly after the crash, the leader of the Hot Boys motorcycle club, which Jordan loved, decided to organize an immediate memorial ride.
“I just put the word out and let everyone hear,” said the group’s leader, who gave his name only as Danny. “There were people from Brooklyn, Jersey, Allentown, PA. I made a meetup spot for everyone and said we ride from the meetup to Jordan’s house.”
More than a hundred motorcyclists gathered outside Jordan’s family’s home in the hours after the crash.
Danny and Jordan’s best friend, Keith Grant, gunned their bikes’ engines into the red and spun their tires until they exploded.
“The whole exhaust was glowing red from the heat. Coolant was leaking everywhere. Oil was dripping onto everything,” Grant said of the maneuver, called a burnout. “Jordan would have loved it.”
“When Danny did the burnout, all the other kids jumped in,” Jordan’s brother added. “Next thing you know, there were fireworks going off, everyone’s revving their engines.”
Jordan was considering a move to Pennsylvania to be closer to his brother, a firefighter and military veteran, when he was killed in the crash.
“He wanted to move to PA, because he wanted to change his life,” said Doyle. “He looked up to me. He wanted to make me happy.”
Doyle said he’s now busy planning a massive funeral procession as a final send-off for his beloved younger brother.
“My brother’s going to lead the crowd,” said Doyle. “And we’re all going to follow.”
