Drivers charged after Dwight Downer dies in Bronx crash
City crash records show one pedestrian was killed and one motorist injured at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue just after midnight on Nov. 30, 2024, and police later charged BMW driver Sheydon McClean with manslaughter in the chain-reaction crash in which Dwight Downer died.
What We Know
A male driver holding only a learner permit hit and killed a 60-year-old man walking in the roadway on Eastchester Road near Givan Avenue in the Bronx just after midnight. According to the police report, the driver was traveling east in a BMW sedan when he struck the pedestrian outside an intersection. Police recorded driver inattention or distraction as the contributing factor. Several parked vehicles were also damaged in the crash. The collision occurred overnight after dark.
A late-night chain reaction reached a man beside his Nissan
The city crash record places the collision at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue in the Bronx at 12:07 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2024, with one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured.
Police told amNY that a 24-year-old male driver in a 2013 BMW 328 XI was traveling eastbound at high speed when he hit a pickup truck being driven northbound on Givan Avenue. Dwight Downer, 60, was standing next to his 2007 Nissan Murano when he was hit during the resulting chain reaction, along with parked vehicles.
After Downer was hit, police said the BMW driver collided with a parked Honda Accord and a Toyota Camry before stopping. EMS took Downer to NYC Health and Hospitals/Jacobi, where he was pronounced dead.
Eastchester Road has a long crash record
The crash happened at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue in the Bronx, in the Baychester and Eastchester area described in police accounts.
CrashCountNYC's location review counted 451 crashes, 310 injuries, 16 serious injuries and one death on Eastchester Road in the Bronx from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Dwight Downer was remembered as Coach D
Downer's sister Karen Green told the Daily News, "He loved life," and said he cooked every Super Bowl and had a large circle of friends. His mother, Norma Downer, later told the paper, "These arrests cannot bring back my child. Still, something has to be done."
Police later arrested both drivers
In May 2025, the Daily News reported that Sheydon McClean, 25, surrendered at the 47th Precinct to face charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and driving without a license. The paper said he had remained at the scene after the crash.
The Daily News described McClean as unlicensed. City crash records list the BMW driver's license status as permit.
Speed, distraction and signal disregard appear in the records
City crash records list driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor for the collision. In the vehicle records, the BMW driver is assigned driver inattention or distraction and unsafe speed, while the pickup driver is assigned traffic control disregarded and driver inattention or distraction.
amNY, citing the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad, reported that the BMW driver was traveling at high speed before the collision. The Daily News later reported that police sources said McClean's BMW had received at least three speed-camera violations in the months after the crash.