Drunk Driver Pleads Guilty for Killing His Passenger in Wrong-Way Crash on Skyway

Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announces that Joshua L. Wright, 28, of Lackawanna, pleaded guilty this morning before Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes to one count of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (Class B felony). Wright pleaded guilty to the highest count in full satisfaction of the indictment.

On Thursday, June 5, 2025, at approximately 11:35 p.m., the defendant was intoxicated when he recklessly drove in the wrong direction on the inbound Route 5 Skyway in the City of Buffalo, causing a head-on collision with another vehicle. The defendant's passenger, 28-year-old Shabrina Grant of Buffalo, was pronounced dead at the scene. The defendant and the driver of the other vehicle, a 46-year-old woman, were taken by ambulance to ECMC. The injured victim was treated for various physical injuries, including an injury to her hand, laceration to her knee and surgery on her right foot.

Wright faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Our prosecutor requested that the defendant be remanded. Wright was held without bail pending sentence.

DA Keane commends Officer Andrea James and members of the Buffalo Police Department Accident Investigation Unit for their work in this investigation as well as ECDA victim advocate Cathy Mitchell.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christine O. Murray of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau.