Groom dies 24 hours before wedding when he and his cousin are killed by wrong-way driver in second horrific accident in days
JUST hours before his wedding, the groom-to-be and his cousin were killed in a horrific accident by a wrong-way driver.
The accident early Saturday morning occurred just days after another shocking wrong-way driving accident on Long Island resulted in the death of a nine-year-old boy.
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According to the New York Post, Kirk Walker, 38, was scheduled to walk his bride and fiancée Sahuntea Weaver, 40, down the aisle at their wedding in Garfield, New Jersey on Sunday.
But just over 24 hours earlier, tragedy struck as Walker and his cousin Rob McLaurin, 40, were celebrating his bachelor party in Manhattan.
The cousins were driving on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem around 2:20 a.m. when their Dodge Challenger was struck head-on.
The vehicle was reportedly struck by a pickup truck driving on the wrong side of the highway.
Both men died in the crash.
Photos of the fatal accident show that the Dodge Challenger is completely demolished and the entire windshield is shattered.
You can see that the hood of the car is crushed and the engine compartment is exposed and crushed.
The driver of the oncoming car allegedly drove away with another passenger after the accident.
However, authorities found the truck’s passenger about ten meters from the accident scene and took him to a nearby hospital, police told the New York Post.
Although no charges have been officially filed, Walker’s bride-to-be told the outlet that investigators said the driver left her DNA at the crime scene.
“The detectives looked me straight in the face and said they would do whatever they could to get justice,” Weaver said.
“They told me the driver left his DNA on the airbags. So they did. Also, the passenger is in hospital with broken legs and needs to report.”
“Two people died in a negligent car accident,” added the grieving fiancée.
“You must pay for killing two innocent people.
He died 24 hours before our wedding. This is devastating, and not just for me. He has three children who loved him immensely. They are deeply saddened that their father has been taken from them.
Sahuntea weaver
“Nothing will bring him back. But we seek justice.”
She told the outlet that she and Walker, a father of three, planned to get married around 5 p.m. on Sunday.
“Our ceremony was supposed to be at 5 p.m. today – in a few hours,” Weaver said.
“He died 24 hours before our wedding. This is devastating, and not just for me. He has three children who loved him immensely. They are deeply saddened that their father has been taken from them.”
She described her fiancé as a “generous” and “hard-working man.”
“I should be wearing my wedding dress now and not mourning,” she said.
“I feel like this is a TV show and I’m going to wake up any minute and go back to my real life. Every hour since it happened, a different feeling comes over me.”
Horror accidents
What are the charges against Kerri Bedrick?
Kerri Bedrick is accused of killing her 9-year-old son in a fatal four-car crash on Thursday, August 22, 2024.
On Friday, she pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Bedrick is due back in court on August 29 and the charges against her are expected to be upgraded.
At the time of the accident, she was driving without a license and had already been arrested twice for drunk driving.
Prosecutors said Bedrick’s driver’s license had been suspended 56 times.
Just two days earlier, another accident had occurred in which a wrong-way driver, caused by a mother from Long Island, had killed the driver’s young son.
32-year-old Kerri Bedrick is accused of driving the wrong way on a highway, causing a fatal crash involving four vehicles.
Her 9-year-old son Eli died on the way to the hospital.
According to investigators, Bedrick was found to be under the influence of drugs while driving and pills were discovered in her car.
During a court hearing on Friday, Bedrick admitted to taking methamphetamines at 8 p.m. the previous evening.
She also said she was under the influence of alcohol.
She has pleaded not guilty to the serious offenses of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving under the influence of drugs.
