A driver on the Henry Hudson Parkway narrowly escaped disaster overnight Monday into Tuesday when a car barreling the wrong way missed them by inches, then slammed head-on into another vehicle near Exit 13 and West 158th Street in Washington Heights, igniting a fiery crash that left multiple people injured.
Dashcam video captured the heart-stopping sequence, according to the New York Post, showing the wrong-way vehicle colliding head-on with another car just after the motorist who recorded the footage swerved clear. The wrong-way driver was found lying on the ground after the crash, the outlet reported, while the other driver remained trapped inside the wreckage, according to a witness cited in the report. That trapped motorist sustained serious injuries, and the driver who had avoided the collision stepped in to help pull them from the wreck.
Two civilians were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and two officers were brought to Harlem Hospital, per the same account, which did not specify the conditions of those injured. The crash also sparked a fire, prompting a broader emergency response along the parkway.
Parkway Shut Down for Hours Overnight
The scale of the disruption was confirmed by Notify NYC, the city's official emergency alert system, which announced at 1:49 am Tuesday that all northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway were closed at West 158th Street because of the vehicle fire. The closure wasn't lifted until 4:21 am, when Notify NYC reported all lanes had reopened, more than two and a half hours after the initial alert.
A Corridor With a Grim History of Wrong-Way Crashes
This is far from the first time a wrong-way driver has turned the Henry Hudson Parkway into a death trap. In August 2024, 17-year-old Jimmy Connors drove a pickup truck the wrong way near West 165th Street and collided head-on with another vehicle, killing groom-to-be Kirk Walker and his cousin Robert McLaurin, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Connors, by then 18, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, as detailed in Hoodline's coverage of the guilty plea.
Just five months before this week's crash, in May 2026, a 26-year-old wrong-way driver traveling north in the southbound lanes near West 70th Street struck a Toyota Highlander head-on, killing 65-year-old passenger Ada Rivero, according to Patch. And in February, Hoodline reported that a pedestrian trying to cross the parkway near West 151st Street was struck by two vehicles and killed, an incident that also triggered hours of traffic delays and a police investigation in the same stretch of Washington Heights.
Other Serious Incidents on the Parkway
The parkway's hazards extend beyond wrong-way crashes: in February, a pedestrian near West 151st Street was struck by two vehicles and killed.
The Henry Hudson Parkway has also been the site of fatal crashes.
Wrong-Way Crashes on the Parkway
Wrong-way crashes on the Henry Hudson Parkway have also killed people.
It remains unclear what led to Tuesday's crash, including how the wrong-way driver entered the parkway and whether impairment played a role. No charges connected to this week's crash have been detailed publicly.
