Two days after causing the accident on the Henry Hudson Parkway that killed Kirk Walker and his cousin, a wrong-way driver was still on the run from police. The accident happened one day before the 38-year-old was due to marry his fiancée.
Instead of walking down the aisle on Sunday, Shauntea Weaver and her family mourned the deaths of Walker and Robert McLaurin, the groom’s cousin, who had traveled from North Carolina for the wedding.
The two men were traveling in the northbound lanes near West 165th Street around 2:20 a.m. Saturday when they were struck head-on by a pickup truck. They were taken to the hospital, but neither survived their injuries.
In the emergency room, Weaver, a trained nurse, heard those dreaded words.
“As a physician, I know what ‘time’ means; I know how to determine time of death,” Weaver said.
According to police, at least three other people in other cars were injured in the crash. The wrong-way driver and his passenger jumped out of the truck, which burst into flames from the impact. The passenger, who was slowed by an injured ankle, was stopped by police while the driver managed to flee the area.
“(Walker) just wanted to come home. He was driving home, and one reckless person took two lives,” Weaver said.
Walker had only been together for eight months when he realized Weaver was the one. The couple ran a car rental business together. Family and friends gathered on Sunday not for the wedding but for a wake for the groom-to-be and his cousin.
“Our wedding was also going to be very lavish. We put a lot of time, effort and money into this wedding and it really should be perfect now,” she said on Sunday.
Lailah Parrish, Weaver’s daughter from a previous relationship, also knew that Walker was the right man for her mother.
“He always tried to give the world to me, my mother and my brother,” Parrish said.
On what was to be one of the happiest days of her life, Weaver had a message for the driver.
“It’s just disgusting. I hope you suffer like I and my family suffer because you took two innocent lives,” she said.
