Bronx biker killed in crash with SUV

A motorcyclist killed in a headon crash with an SUV in the Bronx had just recently gotten the bike he’d longed for since he was a youngster, his heartbroken mother said Tuesday.

Ismael Martinez, 24, was riding his motorcycle east on E. 167th St. when he collided with a Honda CR-V headed in the opposite direction about noon Monday, cops said. Martinez was turning left onto Vyse Ave. when he crashed, police said.

EMS rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital, but he could not be saved.

His mother, Melissa Hostos-Flores, 51, said Martinez only had the bike for a few weeks.

“We got it for him around two months ago,” Hostos-Flores said. “It was a present, he always wanted one, since he was a kid. He was so humble, he didn’t even ask for it.”

Hostos-Flores said she last saw her son not long before the accident.

“I saw him yesterday,” she said. “He said ‘See you later,’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I said to him ‘Be careful!’ ”

When she didn’t hear from Martinez for a while, Hostos-Flores and Martinez’ girlfriend weren’t worried.

“We thought maybe he was helping someone, because that was the kind of person he was,” she said.

The mother was on her way to get her son a new phone when she got the news.

“You just never imagine this,” she said.

The 34-year-old woman driving the SUV remained at the scene and faced no immediate charges.

Martinez was headed toward his home on Vyse Ave. just blocks away when he crashed.

Thrown from the motorcycle, Martinez died almost instantly, the mother said.

“When he was on the way to the hospital, he was already dead,” Hostos-Flores said. “At least I have the comfort that he wasn’t calling out my name. I’m devastated, but I’m glad it happened the way it did, because at least he didn’t suffer.”

Hostos-Flores described her son as “the smarty-pants of the family,” a kindhearted caring person who was equal parts funny and humble.

Friends and family were already gathering for Martinez’s sendoff, some from as far away as Tampa, where he lived for 13 years until moving to the city after high school.