A wrong-way teenage driver accused of hitting and running and killing a groom in Harlem just hours before his wedding was arrested at the Canadian border just a day after the horrific incident, according to a criminal complaint.
The suspect, Jimmy Connors, 17, of Long Island, was ordered held without bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday and is currently serving his sentence in a juvenile detention center, authorities said.
Connors was detained while attempting to cross the Canadian border without identification and with suspicious injuries.
Canadian authorities observed Connors “suffering cuts and bruises on his face, a large bruise on the left side of his abdomen, blood on his shirt and walking with a limp,” an NYPD officer wrote in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Canadian authorities were able to identify Connors from a photograph taken of him leaving the scene of the fatal crash on Aug. 24 in a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with Ontario license plates.
He was formally arrested in New York City on Friday, and police could not immediately say when he would be extradited to New York.
Connors' lawyer, Jonathan Perez, said his client has pleaded “not guilty.”
A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday.
He was set to marry Shawntee Weaver. Obtained by the NY Post
“The prosecution only has circumstantial evidence at this point,” he told The Washington Post on Saturday. “Time will show that he was not involved or that he was not the culprit. I believe there were other culprits. … It's a very weak case.”
Perez did not go into detail, but said Connors is “sick, he's autistic, he has epilepsy” and “he needs medication.”
“He's a 17-year-old kid and there were other people in the car. He's autistic and he has epilepsy so I believe he was taken advantage of by the perpetrator. Just because he was seen somewhere in a car doesn't mean he's the main culprit,” Perez said.
Connors is accused of speeding on the wrong side of the Henry Hudson Parkway in Upper Manhattan around 2:20 a.m. when he crashed his white pickup truck into a car carrying Kirk Walker and his cousin, Rob McLoughlin, killing them both.
Walker, a 38-year-old father of three who lives in Manhattan, was planning to marry his fiancée, Shawnte Weaver, 40, in a lavish ceremony in New Jersey.
“I should be wearing my wedding dress right now, not in mourning,” Weaver told The Washington Post in a heartbreaking exclusive interview on what would have been her wedding day.
“It's like a TV show and then you wake up and you go back to real life.”
Weaver said the murder suspect must be held accountable.
“He killed two really good people,” she told The Post after his arrest on Friday.
“This man thoughtlessly and recklessly took his own life and completely ruined my life because he was my husband and I was meant to start a life with him.”
“I just want the utmost justice to be served,” his grieving fiancé added.
“I just need some kind of relief and I need to know that this person is going to pay for the life he took.”
She also said this was the first step towards “getting justice for Kirk and Robert.”
“While it is a source of relief to us that the man who recklessly took the lives of two of our loved ones is now in custody, please understand that this is only the first step on a long road to justice,” she added.
Perez said the district attorney “intends to prosecute” Connors as an adult, but that his attorney will “resist” that.
The lawyer also argued that police questioned a “17-year-old boy” without a representative, parent or guardian, “which kind of crossed the line.”
Perez declined to provide any details about his client, other than to say his “family quickly came from overseas to help.”
He added that Connors “was a Catholic” and that “nevertheless, he and I express our deepest sorrow at the death.”
