A wrong-way driver first struck an off-duty NYPD officer before fatally crashing into groom-to-be Kirk Walker, sparking a fiery crash, law enforcement sources said.
According to sources, the traffic cop called 911 after the hit-and-run crash in Lower Manhattan early Saturday and pursued the driver’s pickup truck along the West Side Highway until he lost sight of him.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office is investigating the off-duty trooper’s actions to determine whether they led to the horrific head-on collision that occurred moments later. The truck’s collision with a Dodge Challenger resulted in fatalities between Walker, 38, and his cousin Rob McLaurin, who were celebrating Walker’s bachelor party, police and authorities said.
The driver of the pickup fled after the accident and was still at large on Thursday. His passenger, a 22-year-old man, was arrested about 30 minutes from the scene of the accident, police said.
The tragic accident occurred one day before Walker, a father of three children, was due to marry in a large ceremony in New Jersey.
“I should be wearing my wedding dress right now, not mourning,” his devastated fiancée Shauntea Weaver, 40, told The Post Sunday.
Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday that he would donate $1,000 of his own pocket to help catch the fugitive wrong-way driver.
According to sources, the hit-and-run collision between the fleeing driver and the off-duty traffic cop occurred along Canal Street.
According to sources, the officer pursued the truck, albeit at a slow speed, as the vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction on the West Side Highway.
His pursuit of the truck will be subject to a “preliminary evaluation” by James’ office, which is responsible whenever the question of whether a police officer is responsible for a death arises.
The assessment will only lead to a public investigation if officials have reason to believe that the police officer was involved in the fatal accident.
The head-on collision occurred around 2:20 a.m. on northbound Henry Hudson near West 154th Street, police said.
The Dodge driven by McLaurin with Walker in the passenger seat was completely crushed in the front end by the impact, according to police reports and photos from the scene. Both were pronounced dead at local hospitals.
The impact started a fire that destroyed the wrong-way driver’s pickup truck.
