Young motorcyclist who died recalled as a great worker, terrific friend

The 21-year-old motorcyclist who wiped out on the Belt Parkway in Sheepshead Bay Sunday was remembered Monday as a plucky, helpful, caring and hard working woman who cherished the gleaming Yamaha motorcycle that skidded at the Knapp St. exit and tossed her to her death.

"She had that bike for about a year. She really loved it," said Felix Miller, 43, a bartender and chef who worked with Jasmine Calix at the Coney Island Bar & Grill. Police say the 2004 Yamaha Jasmine Calix of Borough Park was riding eastbound on the Parkway shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, toppled, ejecting her and causing her severe head trauma. She was pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.

Calix, who worked as a server and floor manager, "wanted to be (a full time) manager so bad," and always pitched in to cover shifts and help colleagues, Miller said. To assist her, Miller had agreed to show her the ropes of bartending. She was to begin bartending lessons today.

Miller and Calix lived in the same building, where she shared an apartment. "Her room mate is very upset: They were like sisters," said Miller.

Calix, whose Facebook page said she is from Port Washington, grew up in a motorcycle riding family and was a safety-conscious rider, always wearing a helmet and grabbing a ride home late at night from a car-driving friend if she felt tired, said Miller. She had stopped by the restaurant earlier on Sunday to greet friends "and 45 minutes later she was gone. It's just tragic," Miller said.

"She was wearing a helmet," at the time of the crash, confirmed an NYPD spokesman. An investigation into its cause is continuing, he said.