Johnathan Torres' father Juan Torres has been struggling to move forward, consumed by the loss of his son.
"He was my best friend. We talked on the phone five times a day," Juan Torres said.
Just being near his son gave Juan Torres a reason to laugh, and a purpose to life, but that polite gentle personality stopped shining, and those caring eyes stopped smiling when the 21-year-old, known as JT, crashed his e-bike in Edgewater two weeks ago.
Police say the Maywood man lost control and struck a fixed object. Police say he was wearing a helmet.
His father says at 6'5", JT was not a small man, and that $8,000 e-bike wasn't a small bike.
Now, as he tries to make sense of his loss, his father's mission is turning towards safety through legislation.
"If it was mandated that these bikes had turn signals, reflectors, mirrors, that they be registered, that it be clear whether you can drive them on the sidewalk or the street. Or what road you could go on," Juan Torres said.
JT was a man who always followed through. The Mustang GT he owned was his dream car.
Starting in high school, he built it up with his own hands, but it was costing him $800 a month for gas. So, he bought the e-bike. But JT loved cars.
More than that, he loved making others feel special, and he loved his father.
"Friday before he passed it was like the 10th or something, it was my friend's birthday, and he shows up dressed for work in a tuxedo riding his e bike," Juan Torres said. "And we're ax throwing. And he hung out with me for two and a half hours just to be with me. Fourth of July I'm like, ' where are you, I'm at a pool party in Piscataway.' He said, 'I'm in the Bronx.' I said the only thing that would make this thing better is if you showed up. He said, 'I'm too far away.' About an hour and 20 minutes later I hear a splash in the pool and this giant man rises out and says, 'I'm here.' With that smile."
It turns out, the 21-year-old was also an organ donor. His father found out on Monday that someone received his son's heart.
Even after death, Johnathan Torres is making others feel special by helping continue their lives.
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