Wrong-way driver kills two cousins on Henry Hudson Parkway
The Next Day
At about 2:25 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, Jimmy Connors drove a pickup the wrong way on the Henry Hudson Parkway, killing cousins Kirk Walker and Robert McLaurin and injuring four others.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
At about 2:25 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, Jimmy Connors drove a pickup south in the northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway and collided head-on with a Dodge Challenger. Its driver, Kirk Walker, 38, and his cousin and passenger, Robert McLaurin, 40, died. The official record counts four other motorists injured. Walker, a father of three, was due to marry Shauntea Weaver the next day. Connors left the scene. After his arrest and indictment, he pleaded guilty to two counts each of second-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene without reporting.
A head-on collision in the northbound lanes
Connors drove a Chevrolet Silverado south in the northbound lanes and collided head-on with the northbound Dodge Challenger driven by Walker. Walker and his passenger, McLaurin, were pronounced dead at hospitals. The official record counts four other motorists injured.
The official record also includes an Audi sedan and a Toyota SUV. Early police accounts disagree about the Toyota's involvement: one says the pickup driver struck it, while another says debris from the pickup struck its passenger side.
On the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan
The collision happened on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan, where Connors drove against northbound traffic. Reports place it near different cross streets: some say West 154th Street, while others say West 165th Street.
Two cousins on the eve of a wedding
Walker, 38, was a father of three who owned a rental-car business. He and his fiancée, Shauntea Weaver, were due to marry the day after the crash. His cousin McLaurin, 40, had come from North Carolina for the wedding, and the two men had been celebrating Walker's bachelor party.
The official record identifies the 38-year-old as the driver and the 40-year-old as the front passenger, consistent with later reports naming Walker and Robert McLaurin. Some initial reports reversed their ages or gave a different age for the passenger; one ABC7 report called McLaurin Todd.
Family and friends gathered
The families held a vigil after the crash. Weaver said Walker's friends and colleagues had contacted her to tell her about his impact on their lives.
The driver left; the case ended in a guilty plea
Connors left the pickup and fled on foot after the collision. Police arrested him in September 2024. Prosecutors subsequently charged him with murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene.
A January 2026 report said Connors had pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of leaving the scene without reporting. At that time, sentencing was expected on Feb. 27, 2026.