Groom and cousin die one day before wedding in ghost accident on Manhattan Parkway

A groom-to-be and his cousin were killed in a horrific hit-and-run accident on Manhattan's Henry Hudson Parkway one day before their planned wedding.

Kirk Walker, 38, was planning to marry his fiancée at the Royal Manor in Garfield, New Jersey, on Sunday, but an out-of-control pickup truck driver put a stop to his wedding dream.

Walker was very excited about his wedding, said the mother of Walker's cousin Robert McLaurin, who died with him in the crash.

“He was thrilled. He was overjoyed. I said, 'Are you ready, son?' … because I call him my son. And he said, 'Yes, ma'am.' And he said, 'I'm overjoyed.' He said, 'I'm happy,'” she told the Daily News Sunday. “I don't understand it at all. I don't know. I'm like in a dream, hoping I wake up and it's all over.”

Walker and his cousin McLaurin, 40, of North Carolina, were traveling uptown on the parkway when a pickup truck driver traveling the wrong way collided head-on with their Dodge Challenger near W. 154th Street around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.

The wrong-way driver got out of the wrecked pickup truck and ran away, leaving a 22-year-old passenger behind while one of the vehicles burst into flames. Two other vehicles were damaged in the ensuing pileup, police said.

“Our condolences here at the venue go out to them both. … What happened is a tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with them now,” a venue representative told the Daily News Sunday. “We have been notified [yesterday]. It is an extreme tragedy.”

“It's very personal,” she added. “We worked with them in the planning process and can only say good things about them.”

Police questioned the passenger on Saturday, but had not caught the driver by Sunday.

McLaurin had a new girlfriend and was excited to introduce her to his cousin, his mother told The News

“This is the first time in a long time that I have seen my son relaxed and happy,” she added.[McLaurin] was excited to show it to his cousin. He had talked about it. He was ready to show it to him, and so they went out that night and celebrated.”

“They were like brothers,” she said of her son and his cousin. “They grew up together and talked every day. They were really close.”

On Sunday, Facebook friend Alexis Stewart mourned the future groom and described him as “a neighborhood 'nephew' to all the buddies in the neighborhood.”

“They were all at his bachelor party the night before,” she wrote. “And today he was supposed to get married. His cousin from North Carolina who came to the wedding also died. Strength to everyone.”

McLaurin's mother said her entire family traveled from North Carolina to attend the wedding and only learned of the accident from her daughter.

She described her son as a “good man.”

“He said he came to earth to serve,” she said, “and he did it well.”

Originally published: August 25, 2024 at 16:44