Teen charged after wrong-way Henry Hudson crash killed two
At about 2:25 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, two motorists died and four were injured on the Henry Hudson Parkway, where prosecutors say Jimmy Connors drove a Chevy pickup the wrong way before hitting the Dodge Challenger carrying Kirk Walker and Robert McLaurin.
What We Know
Before dawn on Aug. 24, 2024, two motorists died and four were injured in a multi-vehicle crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan. Police and prosecutors later said Jimmy Connors drove a Chevrolet pickup south in northbound lanes before hitting the Dodge Challenger carrying Kirk Walker and Robert McLaurin. The official record lists improper passing or lane use as a contributing factor and records a pickup, two sedans and an SUV. After a search, police arrested Connors, and prosecutors later indicted him on charges including second-degree murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene. He pleaded not guilty, according to later coverage.
Before dawn on the parkway
The official record logs the crash at 2:25 a.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, on the Henry Hudson Parkway and records two motorists killed and four injured. Press accounts placed the crash between about 2:20 and 2:30 a.m.
Police and prosecutors later said Jimmy Connors drove a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado south in the northbound lanes and hit a northbound Dodge Challenger. Reports and the official record describe a broader crash involving the pickup, the Dodge, an Audi sedan and a Toyota SUV, though accounts differ on whether the Toyota was hit directly or by debris.
Kirk Walker and Robert McLaurin died
The official record lists the Dodge driver as a 38-year-old man and the front-seat passenger as a 40-year-old man. Later coverage identified them as Kirk Walker, 38, of Manhattan, and Robert McLaurin, 40, from North Carolina.
Articles described Walker and McLaurin as cousins who had been returning from Walker’s bachelor party. Walker was scheduled to be married the next day.
An initial New York Post report described the Dodge passenger as 33, but the official record and later coverage identify McLaurin as 40.
Four vehicles were recorded
The official record lists a 2017 Chevrolet pickup traveling south, a 2021 Dodge sedan traveling north, a 2018 Audi sedan traveling north and a 2019 Toyota SUV traveling south. The record describes the pickup and the Dodge as demolished.
Police accounts cited in the press said Connors drove the Chevrolet pickup the wrong way before hitting the Dodge and then involving the Audi; amNY reported that debris from the Chevy hit the passenger side of the Toyota.
Reports placed the crash in Upper Manhattan
The official record places the crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan. Press accounts described the scene as the northbound Henry Hudson near West 154th Street or near West 165th Street.
Those differing cross streets appear in early and follow-up reports; the shared location detail is that police and prosecutors described wrong-way driving in the parkway’s northbound lanes.
Wrong-way driving became the central allegation
The official record lists improper passing or lane use as a contributing factor for the pickup. Police and prosecutors later described the decisive conduct as Connors driving south in the northbound lanes of the parkway.
A 2025 civil lawsuit filed by Walker’s fiancée alleged Connors had been drinking at a Midtown club before the crash and that an off-duty NYPD officer pursued him in a personal SUV after an earlier crash. Those allegations were reported as claims in a lawsuit.
Search, arrest and indictment
Mayor Eric Adams offered $1,000 of his own money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver who fled. Gothamist reported that police arrested a 17-year-old boy after a three-week search.
One Aug. 30 amNY account described law enforcement sources as saying the Chevy driver was 31; later NYPD arrest coverage and Manhattan District Attorney reporting identified the charged driver as a 17-year-old.