BMW driver charged after Bronx crash kills Dwight Downer
The official record reports a pedestrian fatality and one injured motorist at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue shortly after midnight on Nov. 30, 2024; police later charged BMW driver Sheydon McClean with manslaughter in Dwight Downer's death.
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 chain-reaction crash after midnight
The city crash record places the crash 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 accounts cited by amNewYork and the Daily News said a 24-year-old man driving a 2013 BMW east on Eastchester Road collided with a pickup driver traveling north on Givan Avenue. The BMW driver then hit parked vehicles and Dwight Downer, who was standing near his 2007 Nissan Murano, before continuing into additional parked cars and stopping.
Eastchester Road has a long crash record
The crash happened at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue in the Bronx. CrashCountNYC location context for Eastchester Road in the Bronx counts 451 crashes, 310 injuries, 16 serious injuries and one death from Jan. 1, 2022, through June 1, 2026.
Dwight Downer was known as Coach D
News accounts identified the man who died as 60-year-old Dwight Downer of the Bronx. The Daily News reported that Downer was a retired correction officer, a father of two and a high school football coach at DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was known as Coach D.
Downer's sister, Karen Green, told the Daily News, "He loved life." His mother, Norma Downer, said after McClean's arrest, "These arrests cannot bring back my child. Still, something has to be done."
Police and crash records pointed to dangerous driving
The city vehicle records attributed driver inattention or distraction and unsafe speed to the BMW driver, and traffic control disregarded and driver inattention or distraction to the pickup driver. amNewYork reported that police said the BMW driver was traveling at high speed before the collision.
The official vehicle record listed the BMW driver's license status as a New York permit. The Daily News later reported that police described Sheydon McClean as an unlicensed BMW driver and charged him with driving without a license.
Two drivers were charged months later
In May 2025, police said Sheydon McClean surrendered at the 47th Precinct stationhouse. The Daily News reported that he faced charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and driving without a license.