A 17-year-old accused of driving the wrong-way down the Henry Hudson Parkway and causing a crash that killed a man and his cousin the day before he was set to marry his fiance has finally been arrested, police announced Friday.
The teen driver was nabbed three weeks after the fiery crash that killed Kirk Walker, 38, and his cousin Robert McLaurin, 40.
The two men were traveling in the northbound lanes near West 165th Street around 2:20 a.m. Saturday when they were struck head-on by a pickup truck. They were rushed to the hospital but neither survived their injuries.
The NYPD finally caught up to the alleged driver of the truck, a 17-year-old, and arrested him on charges of vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
Instead of walking down the aisle on Aug. 25, Shauntea Weaver and family mourned the deaths of Walker and McLaurin, the groom’s cousin who traveled from North Carolina for the nuptials.
In the emergency room, Weaver, a registered nurse, heard those dreaded words.
“Being a medical professional, I know what ‘time’ means, that’s pronouncing time of death,” Weaver told News 4 on the day of her would-be wedding.
Police said at least three other people in different cars were injured in the crash. The wrong-way driver and his passenger hopped out of the truck that burst into flames from the impact. The passenger, slowed down by a hurt ankle, was stopped by police while the driver managed to flee the area.
“[Walker] was just trying to come home, he was driving home and a reckless person took two lives,” Weaver said.
It took eight months of dating for Walker to know that Weaver was the one. The couple operated a rental car business together. Family and friends gathered Sunday not for the wedding but a vigil for the groom-to-be and his cousin.
“Our wedding was supposed to be very elaborate as well, we put a lot of time, effort and money into this wedding and it was really supposed to be right now,” she said Sunday.
Lailah Parrish, Weaver’s daughter from a previous relationship, also knew Walker was the right man for her mom.
“He’s always tried to give me, my mom and my brother the world,” Parrish said.
On what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life, Weaver said she had one message for the driver.
“It’s just disgusting. I hope that you suffer the way that myself and my family is suffering because you took two innocent lives,” she said.
