Off-duty officer pleads guilty in fatal Grand Central Parkway crash.
QNS's plea report identified off-duty officer Tyler Paul as the driver and said he was speeding and changing lanes before losing control; highway contractor Kawan Edwards, 36, was fatally struck on the Grand Central Parkway in a crash the official record places at 10:09 a.m. on April 26, 2023.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
QNS reported that Paul was speeding and changing lanes when he struck a vehicle in the right lane. He lost control; his vehicle skidded at high speed, and Edwards was struck on the shoulder. The official record places the crash at 10:09 a.m. on April 26, 2023, on the Grand Central Parkway and records one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured. QNS later reported that Paul pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and second- and third-degree assault.
The plea account describes a chain of impacts.
QNS's account of the guilty plea said Paul was driving at high speed and changing lanes from left to right without signaling. While driving between lanes, he struck a vehicle in the right lane, lost control, and his vehicle skidded at high speed; Edwards was struck on the shoulder.
The official record lists one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured.
Edwards was working along the parkway.
QNS identified Edwards, 36, of Newark, New Jersey, as a Department of Transportation contractor. Its plea report said he was putting up construction signs on the shoulder; Patch and ABC7, citing transportation officials, described a wall inspection.
Sources differed about the hospital where Edwards died. QNS named Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, while Patch and ABC7 named NewYork-Presbyterian Queens; the reports said he died after being taken to a hospital.
Reports place the work zone along the Grand Central Parkway.
The official record lists the Grand Central Parkway. Patch placed the incident on its eastbound side near Northern Boulevard, while CBS described it as near Roosevelt Avenue and the Whitestone Expressway. Patch reported that Edwards was inspecting a wall in the highway work area.
The case later resulted in guilty pleas.
CBS reported that the state attorney general's special-investigation office was reviewing the fatal crash. QNS later reported that Paul pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and second- and third-degree assault.
QNS's March 2024 indictment report identified the officer as Paul Tyler, 24; its later plea report called him Tyler Paul, 25. The plea report said he was arrested in March 2024, suspended without pay and later terminated from the NYPD, where he worked as a quartermaster. It reported that sentencing was scheduled for January 23, 2025.