A woman who was supposed to be getting married at the weekend has described her heartbreak after a wrong-way crash in New York resulted in the death of her husband-to-be.
Groom Kirk Walker and his cousin, Rob McLaurin, were driving on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Harlem, New York, when a pickup truck came towards them, barrelling down the road in the wrong direction.
The pair had been out celebrating Kirk's bachelor party when the incident took place at about 2:20am local time, and both men were killed as a result of the crash.
Kirk, who was just 38, had been supposed to be meeting his fiancée, Shauntea Weaver, at the altar of the Royal Manor wedding venue in Garfield, New Jersey, just one day later.
Speaking to The New York Post about her devastation, Shauntea said: "I’m supposed to be in my wedding dress right now — not in mourning.
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“I feel like this is a TV show and I’m going to wake up any minute and go back to my real life. Every hour since it happened, I’m having a different emotion take me over.”
The wedding was supposed to take place at 5pm on Sunday (August 25). A catering hall representative confirmed to The Post the ceremony had been canceled due to 'a fatal crash'.
“He died 24 hours before our wedding," Shauntea said. "It’s devastating, and not just for me. He has three children that loved him immeasurably. They are heartbroken that their father’s been taken.”
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Shauntea described Kirk as a 'generous, hard-working man', saying he had a 'heart of gold and would do anything for anybody'.
After they met, the couple had started a successful car rental business.
“He put his blood, sweat and tears into it — we both did,” she continued.
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The driver of the pickup truck, and a passenger who was inside at the time, both fled the scene after the incident.
Police managed to track down the passenger, but they are still investigating who was behind the wheel on Saturday morning.
Shauntea made clear that she's looking for justice to be served, saying: “The detectives looked me right in my face and said that they were going to do everything they could to get justice.
“They told me the driver left his DNA on the airbags. So they have that. Also the passenger is in the hospital with broken legs and he needs to speak up.
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“Two lives were lost in a reckless car crash,” she continued. “They need to pay for killing two innocent people.
“Nothing will bring him back. But we are seeking justice.”
Topics: Crime, New York, Weddings, Sex and Relationships, US News
Emily Brown