Wrong-way driver killed two men on Henry Hudson Parkway
Prosecutors say Jimmy Connors drove a Chevy pickup the wrong way on the Henry Hudson Parkway at about 2:30 a.m., in a crash that city records count as killing two motorists and injuring four.
What We Know
Just before 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, city records show a crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway that killed two motorists and injured four others. Prosecutors later said Jimmy Connors, 17, drove a Chevrolet pickup south in the northbound lanes and hit a Dodge Challenger carrying Kirk Walker, 38, and Robert McLaurin, 40. Walker was driving; McLaurin was his passenger. Both men were taken to hospitals and pronounced dead. Police said the pickup driver left the scene, and Connors was later arrested and indicted on murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and leaving-the-scene counts.
A wrong-way run ended in a fatal multi-vehicle crash
City crash records place the crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway at 2:25 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, with two motorists killed and four injured. The official record lists a pickup truck, two sedans, and an SUV, and cites improper passing or lane use as a contributing factor.
Police and prosecutors later said Jimmy Connors drove a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado south in the northbound lanes and hit a Dodge Challenger driven by Kirk Walker. Robert McLaurin was in the passenger seat. Officials said the driver left after the crash; Connors was arrested weeks later.
Kirk Walker and Robert McLaurin were named as the men who died
Later police and prosecutor accounts identified Walker, 38, as the Dodge driver and McLaurin, 40, as his passenger and cousin. AMNY reported that medics took Walker to New York Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and McLaurin to Harlem Hospital, where each was pronounced dead.
Walker was set to be married the next day after celebrating his bachelor party, according to multiple reports. His fiancee, Shauntea Weaver, told the Post, "I’m supposed to be in my wedding dress right now — not in mourning."
Early published police summaries differed on the victims' ages and roles. Later accounts, the indictment report, and the official crash record identify Walker as the 38-year-old driver and McLaurin as the 40-year-old passenger.
Other people in the crash survived
Police said the driver in the Chevrolet pickup also made contact with an Audi, whose driver and passenger were taken to a hospital in stable condition. The official record also lists a Toyota SUV in the crash.
Accounts differ on the Toyota's role. Gothamist reported that the pickup driver hit an Audi and a Toyota SUV before leaving. AMNY reported that debris from the Chevrolet damaged the Toyota, while 1010 WINS reported that a Toyota RAV4 driver was also traveling the wrong way, remained at the scene, and had not been charged.
The case became a search, then an indictment
Police first sought the driver who left the Henry Hudson Parkway scene. Mayor Eric Adams later offered $1,000 of his own money for information, calling the crash a "Shakespearean tragedy."
Gothamist reported that police arrested a 17-year-old in September on vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and leaving-the-scene counts. In October, AMNY reported that Jimmy Connors of Syosset had been indicted on two murder counts, two manslaughter counts, two criminally negligent homicide counts, and three leaving-the-scene counts.
Investigators focused on wrong-way driving and lane use
The official crash record cites improper passing or lane use. Police and prosecutors described the central conduct more specifically: a driver going south in the parkway's northbound lanes before the fatal impact.
A later civil lawsuit alleged Connors had been drinking at a Manhattan club and that an off-duty NYPD officer pursued him before the crash. Those allegations came from a lawsuit report; Connors pleaded not guilty in the criminal case, according to the Post.
Where
Henry Hudson Pkwy