Retired NYPD detective Victor Romero, 62, was arrested Wednesday and initially charged with murder in the fatal shooting of 46-year-old Con Edison worker Koran Irvine on the George Washington Bridge Tuesday night.

At Thursday's arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, the district attorney's office downgraded the charge to first-degree manslaughter, PIX11 and Newsday report. Judge Kevin McGrath Jr. set bail at $1 million, and Romero did not enter a plea.

Prosecutors say Irvine and Romero were simultaneously changing lanes while entering the bridge's upper level just before 7 p.m. and nearly hit each other.

According to the criminal complaint described in court, Romero tailgated Irvine's VW Golf aggressively in his employer's black Range Rover, pulled up alongside, and fired a single shot through the rear passenger window, striking Irvine behind his right shoulder.

Assistant DA Matt Sears called it a particularly senseless killing, saying Irvine's car lurched across four lanes and crashed.

The family says the lesser charge feels like preferential treatment for a retired officer. Under New York law, first-degree manslaughter requires intent to cause serious physical injury rather than death.

'If it was me or you, it would be murder,' Irvine's aunt Gale Forde said. Family attorney Keith White called the handling a miscarriage of justice, while the Daily News reports prosecutors' office declined to explain its reasoning beyond court statements.

Romero faces up to 25 years if convicted.

Romero joined the NYPD in 1994 and retired in 2001 on a disability pension after being shot in a 2000 shootout with robbers at his family's Brooklyn laundromat, where he shot two suspects.

His attorney Alan Abramson called him a hero cop awarded the NYPD's Combat Cross, said he voluntarily surrendered, and noted he is not charged with murder.

Newsday reports his retirement ended a CCRB investigation into that shooting, letting him keep a concealed-carry license — a loophole Mayor Mamdani has since sought to close, per the family's attorneys.

Irvine, of Valley Cottage in Rockland County, was a devoted husband and father of a 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son who worked at Con Edison for more than 20 years. His sister Zeria said she spoke with him daily on his commute home.

A GoFundMe described him as a man full of life and dedication, and Con Edison called the shooting a senseless act of violence. Family members who packed the courtroom said he never missed his kids' basketball games.

The Manhattan DA will present the case to a grand jury on October 26, and Romero's next court date is October 27, per CBS News and the Daily News. If the grand jury indicts, he will then have to enter a plea.

Prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing; detectives recovered a revolver registered to Romero and two handguns from his Haverstraw home, and experts are testing whether the revolver is the murder weapon. The Daily News reports the judge also ordered him to surrender his passport.