A 17-year-old driver blamed for a fiery, wrong-way Manhattan crash that killed a groom-to-be and his cousin fled all the way to the Canadian border before he was captured, wearing the same bloody clothes he had on when he limped away from the mangled wreckage, prosecutors said Saturday.
When Jimmy Connors showed up at the border a day after the Aug. 24 crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway, he had no identification on him, prosecutors said.
Connors “had cuts and bruises on his face, a large bruise on the left side of his stomach, blood on his shirt and he was walking with a limp,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Federal agents detained Connors at the border.
He was turned over to the NYPD on Friday and charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
Police said Connors was behind the wheel of a Chevy Silverado pickup truck with Canadian plates, heading northbound on the parkway near Dyckman St. in Washington Heights at about 2:20 p.m., when he sideswiped the car of an off-duty NYPD cop.
The transit cop called 911 and followed Connors, who sped away.
The pickup truck headed down an exit ramp, made a quick U-turn and then drove south in the northbound lanes, prosecutors said.
A moment later, the pickup slammed head-on into a Dodge Challenger carrying groom-to-be Kirk Walker Jr., 38, and his cousin Robert McLaurin, 40, near W. 154th St.
The truck also struck an Audi S3 carrying a 27-year-old driver and a 28-year-old passenger before coming to a stop.
Surveillance cameras caught the truck’s driver, identified as Connors, wearing a white, short-sleeved polo shirt, stumble out of the ruined vehicle and run away on foot. The truck burst into flames.
“[He] fled the scene of this collision by jumping over the center median, and crossing the southbound lanes of the parkway,” prosecutors said in the complaint.
Connors jumped over a wall on the roadway’s western shoulder and disappeared into the woods, the complaint read.
His 21-year-old passenger remained at the scene and was not charged, cops said.
Police said a Toyota Rav4 was spotted with the Chevy heading against traffic on the Henry Hudson Parkway. It was not clear if the Toyota was driven by the off-duty cop.
Walker Jr. and McLaurin were rushed to area hospitals but couldn’t be saved. Several members of the wedding party were on the parkway driving behind Walker Jr. when the horrific crash took place.
Cops looked up the pickup’s Canadian license plate in the NYPD’s reader system and learned the vehicle was seen leaving W. 41st St. in Midtown about a half hour before the crash.
Surveillance images recovered in the area helped provide police with Connor’s description, including the clothes he was wearing, cops said.
During a brief arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday, a judge ordered Connors held without bail.
The teen’s defense attorney said Connors suffers from autism and epilepsy and “denies any involvement.”
“The evidence the DA has is quite weak and circumstantial,” attorney Jonathan Perez said. “It’s my understanding that the NYPD overstepped in their interviews and he will be exonerated.”
There is no direct evidence that shows Connors was driving the truck at the time of the crash, the lawyer maintained.
“This is not an individual who has ever been arrested before,” he said. “He’s extremely sad for everyone involved — but there is nothing right now that shows this case should be prosecuted.”
Walker’s bride-to-be said Friday she looked forward to seeing justice served for her fiancé and his cousin now that Connors has been charged.
“As a family, we are relieved to be at the first step in getting justice for Kirk and Robert,” Shauntea Weaver said. “We will not let Kirk and Robert’s lives be taken in vain, and will continue to push so that things like this do not continue to happen.”
Source Agencies
