Police catch wrong-way driver in New York accused of killing groom just hours before wedding

The teenage wrong-way driver accused of killing his groom in a horrific hit-and-run accident in Harlem the day before his wedding was caught by police on Friday.

Jimmy Connors, 17, was speeding down the wrong side of the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan at around 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, August 24, when he crashed his white pickup truck into a car carrying Kirk Walker and his cousin Rob McLaurin, killing both men.

Connors, of Long Island, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run, according to police.

Walker, a 38-year-old father of three from Manhattan, was scheduled to marry his fiancée Shauntea Weaver, 40, in a lavish ceremony in New Jersey.

“I should be wearing my wedding dress right now – not grieving,” Weaver told The Post in a heartbreaking exclusive interview on what was supposed to be her wedding day. “I feel like this is a TV show and I'm going to wake up any minute and go back to my real life.”

Weaver said the accused murderer must pay for his crimes.

“He killed two honest, good people,” she said Friday when reached by The Post.

“This man took his life carelessly, took his life recklessly and completely ruined my life because that was my husband and I was supposed to start a life with him.”

“I just want justice to be done to the fullest extent possible,” added the grieving fiancée.

“I just need some kind of relief and I need to know that this person is going to pay for the lives he took.”

She also said it was the first step “towards getting justice for Kirk and Robert.”

“The imprisonment of the man who recklessly took the lives of two of our loved ones gives us peace, but we must also understand that this is only the first step on a long road to justice,” she added.

“We will not allow Kirk and Robert's lives to be taken in vain and will continue to work to ensure that such things do not happen again.”

Walker, the owner of a car rental company, and McLaurin had been celebrating the groom-to-be's bachelor party when their black and orange Dodge Challenger was hit near West 154th Street.

Weaver said detectives told her the cowardly driver who fled on foot after the fatal collision left “his DNA on the airbags” of his vehicle when the safety devices were deployed by the crash. They hoped to identify him from the remains.

The pickup truck driver also left behind an injured passenger who also tried to flee the scene of the accident but only made it about 10 meters before police arrested him, police said.

The injured Manhattan man was hospitalized and it is unclear whether he will face charges.

After the fatal accident, Mayor Eric Adams donated $1,000 from his own pocket to help catch the fleeing driver.

“Every accident is a terrible accident, but some develop into Shakespearean tragedies,” he said at the time.