BMW Driver Charged After Bronx Crash Killed Dwight Downer
Police later charged the BMW driver with manslaughter after a 12:07 a.m. chain-reaction crash at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue killed 60-year-old pedestrian Dwight Downer.
What We Know
Shortly after midnight on Nov. 30, 2024, police said a 24-year-old man driving a BMW east on Eastchester Road hit a pickup driver traveling north on Givan Avenue. Investigators said the collision sent the BMW into parked cars and Dwight Downer, 60, who was standing beside his Nissan Murano; medics took him to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died. The city record listed one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured. Police later charged the pickup driver with leaving the scene and the BMW driver with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
How investigators described the chain reaction
The crash was recorded at 12:07 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2024, at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue in the Bronx. The city record lists one pedestrian killed and one motorist injured.
Police said a 24-year-old man driving a 2013 BMW 328 XI east on Eastchester Road hit a pickup driver traveling north on Givan Avenue. After that impact, investigators said the BMW was carried into parked vehicles and Dwight Downer, who was standing beside his 2007 Nissan Murano. Medics took Downer to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died.
Dwight Downer was known as Coach D
Downer was a retired correction officer who had worked at Rikers Island for 27 years, according to his family, and later coached football at DeWitt Clinton High School. Norwood News reported that he also coached the Bronx Buccaneers, whose players and affiliates joined tributes after his death.
Karen Green, identified by the Daily News as Downer's sister, said, "He loved life." She added, "Every Super Bowl he would cook. He had a large circle of friends. People loved him."
Eastchester Road has a long crash record
The fatal crash happened at Eastchester Road and Givan Avenue in the Bronx.
CrashCountNYC's street review for Eastchester Road in the Bronx counted 451 crashes, 310 injuries, 16 serious injuries and one death from the start of 2022 through June 1, 2026.
Records and reports pointed to speed and inattention
The city crash record listed driver inattention or distraction as a contributing factor for the crash. For the BMW driver, the vehicle record listed driver inattention or distraction and unsafe speed; for the pickup driver, it listed traffic control disregarded and driver inattention or distraction.
AMNY reported that police learned the BMW driver was traveling at a high speed before the initial impact.
Arrests followed months later
Police said the BMW driver stayed at the scene and was treated for minor injuries, while the pickup driver left. In March, police arrested the pickup driver, identified in the Daily News and one Norwood News report as Orville Berry, though a later Norwood News report spelled the surname Barry. He was charged with leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
In May, police arrested the BMW driver. The Daily News identified him as Sheydon McClean, while Norwood News spelled the surname McLean. Police said he was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and driving without a license. Norwood News noted that both arrested men are presumed innocent unless and until convicted.