STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At the same corner where Carl Henderson Jr. was involved in a crash that would eventually become fatal, friends of the Clifton man gathered to honor his memory with a vigil Monday night.
Over a dozen people shared memories of Henderson and wrote heartfelt messages on posters that included pictures of him during a tribute at the corner of Forest Avenue and Clove Road — where he suffered critical injuries last week as a result of a crash with a car while he was riding a motorcycle.
Henderson, 30, died at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton several days after the crash.
“He was one of my best friends,” said Chaz John, 24, a longtime friend of Henderson. “He was a nice, genuine person. He loved everybody.”
John said that he hung out with Henderson “every day” and used to ride bikes with him, saying Henderson would always give him a call after a ride to “make sure I was okay.”
“He would call me and say, ‘are you home?' " John said.
Just over a week removed from the crash, and only days after Henderson died, John said the crash was completely unexpected. “It happened out the blue,” he said.
“Nobody will ever be ready to experience that,” he said of his friend’s death.
Henderson, an employee of the New York City Housing Authority, just clocked out of his shift minutes before the crash, said Peter Ortiz, 38, a close friend.
An organizer of the vigil, Ortiz said its purpose was to make sure “his death doesn’t go unheard," adding that the intersection is one he believes is troublesome.
“This is a bad corner right here,” he said, referring to the Clove Road and Forest Avenue intersection, which does not have a turning signal.
Police said on Monday that there were no arrests in connection with the crash. The driver of the car involved in the crash was conscious, alert and refused medical attention, police previously said.
The NYPD investigation remains ongoing.