Groom and cousin killed in wrong-way crash on Manhattan highway day before wedding

A groom-to-be and his cousin were killed the day before their planned wedding in a horrific wrong-way crash on Manhattan’s Henry Hudson Parkway.

Kirk Walker, 38, was scheduled to marry his fiancée at the Royal Manor in Garfield, New Jersey, on Sunday, but an out-of-control pickup truck driver ruined those nuptial dreams.

Walker was excited to get married, said the mother of Walker’s cousin, Robert McLaurin, who died with him in the crash.

“I was ecstatic. I was so happy. I asked him, ‘Are you ready, son?’ … because I call him my son. And he said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ And he said, ‘I’m so happy.’ He said, ‘I’m happy,’” she told the Daily News Sunday. “I don’t understand it. I don’t know. I’m like in a dream and I’m hoping I’ll wake up and it’ll all be over.”

Walker and his cousin, McLaurin, 40, of North Carolina, were heading downtown on the highway when the driver of a pickup truck going the wrong way crashed head-on into their Dodge Challenger near W. 154th St. at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.

The wrong-way driver got out of the wrecked SUV and fled, leaving a 22-year-old passenger behind as one of the vehicles caught fire. Two other vehicles were damaged in the ensuing crash, police said.

“Our hearts here at the wedding venue are definitely with them both… It’s a tragedy what happened, and right now our thoughts and prayers are with them,” a representative for the wedding venue told the Daily News Sunday. “We were notified (yesterday). It’s an extreme tragedy.”

“It’s a very personal thing,” he added. “We worked with them in the planning process and we only have good things to say about them.”

Police were questioning the passenger on Saturday, but had not caught the driver as of Sunday.

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

“It’s the first time I’ve seen my son relaxed and happy in a long time,” she added. “(McLaurin) was ecstatic to show it to his cousin. He had talked about it. He was ready to show it to him, and that’s why they were celebrating that night.”

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

On Sunday, Facebook friend Alexis Stewart mourned the loss of the groom-to-be, calling him “a ‘nephew’ from the neighborhood to all the friends in the neighborhood.”

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

McLaurin’s mother said her entire family had come from North Carolina to attend the wedding and learned of the accident from her daughter.

She described her son as a “good man.”

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