NYPD cop killed in fiery BQE hit-and-run survived earlier motorcycle crash: friend

An NYPD cop killed in a fiery hit-and-run crash on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was a “real-life hero” who barely survived another motorcycle crash years earlier, his longtime friend told the Daily News.

Officer Jay Pena, 30, died after a box truck driver struck his motorcycle near the Atlantic Ave. exit in Cobble Hill Wednesday morning. Pena was thrown from his motorcycle, which kept on going down the highway, slamming into a wall and exploding into flames.

“He was amazing. He was the best and he was literally a real-life hero,’” Samantha Batsikas said of her childhood friend. “It was that shiny bright personality that said, ‘I’m here and that means peace is here.’”

Pena, a four-year NYPD veteran, was off duty riding his Yamaha motorcycle home from work in the 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn when truck driver Carlos Almanzar Toribio, also 30, allegedly struck him about 8:50 a.m.

Eight years ago Pena miraculously bounced back after being gravely injured in a motorcycle accident in Pennsylvania, Batsikas said.

“It was really bad. He was in critical condition for a long time. He had to get a skin graft, and he broke his pelvic bone. He had to learn to walk again,” Batsikas said. “[After recovering], of course he got back on the motorcycle, which pissed everyone off. I saw his mom go through it the first time. Her dealing with that heartbreak, and then, you know, this happened so it’s even worse.”

Batsikas blasted Toribio for allegedly driving off instead of lending a hand to Pena when he really needed it Wednesday.

Toribio, who was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Thursday, stopped several yards away to dislodge motorcycle wreckage from under his truck, saw Pena’s body on the ground, then drove off, prosecutors said.

“To get out of your car, to move the motorcycle, to see a body and not do anything, to leave and really only think of yourself in that moment… sucks,” said the friend, who worked as a clerk in a Brooklyn hospital for many years.

“Working in a hospital for so long, you know that time is very, very important. To have taken that time away from helping him. … He potentially could be here.”

Cops arrested Toribio the same day, and he was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, operating an unregistered vehicle and driving with no license plate. A Brooklyn judge ordered him held on $300,000 bond.

Pena was about 10 minutes away from his Sunset Park home when he was hit Wednesday.

“This could have been another journey where Jay rehabilitates and comes back out stronger on the other end, and it’s like, he’s not,” Batsikas said. “That’s why it’s so hard.”

Pena, who grew up in Sunset Park, leaves behind his parents and his 18-year-old brother, whom he always strived to be a role model for, the friend said.

Batsikas met Pena in the fifth grade at their Sunset Park Catholic school and the two quickly became an item, dating from ages 10 through 16.

“It was puppy love,” she said, adding they remained close friends until they had a falling out in recent years.

“He was so happy,” she said. You know how guys usually have like, a mean mug? Like, that’s just their resting face? Jay was the opposite. He was always smiling. His smile is so perfect. He was always just shining it.”

Pena was a free spirit who loved an adrenaline rush, skateboarding and riding bikes as a kid before getting into riding motorcycles in his 20s, she said.

She was proud when he joined the NYPD.

“It was just like, ‘Oh my god, yes. This makes sense.’ It was great to find out that he would do something and be so good at it,” she said. “It was, I guess, his calling, because of his traits. He was brave, courageous, loved the adrenaline and he could think clearly under that stress.”

“If you were ever in trouble, if something happened to you, you’d want him to be the person helping you,” she added.

Pena, in his usual determined fashion, aced an agility test at the Police Academy even while he was recovering from COVID, according to Batsikas.

“He couldn’t breathe properly. His lungs were literally full. Do you know he still beat everybody? He outran everyone. Wearing a heavy vest and everything,” she said. “He graduated with a plaque. And that was at his worst. That’s the person he is, he pushes so hard for what he wants.”

He was also a beloved fixture at the Glory Martial Arts Center in Bay Ridge, which posted about him on its Instagram account and set up a GoFundMe for his familiy after his death

“Jay was more than just a teammate, he was part of our community, our mats, and our everyday moments. His energy, and kindness left a mark on everyone he trained with,” the gym posted on Instagram. “This is a hard hit for all of us. Our gym will not be the same.”

Pena had recently gone to Mexico for scuba diving training and was aiming to become part of the NYPD’s harbor unit, according to Batsikas’ mother, who remained in touch with him.

Even when Batsikas and Pena were not on speaking terms, he treated her mother like his own, shoveling her car out of the snow and helping her around the house, she said.

“He was selfless like that. How many times do you meet people like that in your life? Not often,” she said. “That’s why it’s just like, what the hell? You lose the good ones, and it’s just the worst.”

Batsikas said the last time she spoke to Pena in 2023, they were messaging on Instagram, exchanging memes and discussing anime.

“I’ve known him for longer than when I didn’t speak to him, that little chunk. But that little chunk feels like forever now,” she said. “Life is too sensitive to not speak to the people that you love.”

With Thomas Tracy

Originally Published: August 31, 2025 at 5:03 PM EDT