Driver charged with killing NHL’s Johnny Gaudreau and brother had .087% BAC
The driver accused of killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they rode bicycles on a country road had a blood-alcohol level of 0.087, higher than the legal limit of 0.08 in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and his brother Matthew, 29, were killed near their parents’ home in South Jersey on Aug. 29, the night before they were to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and alcohol in a motor vehicle. During a virtual court hearing on Friday, a judge ordered him held in custody pending trial after prosecutors detailed a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“‘You were probably driving like a maniac, like I always tell you. And you’re not listening to me, you’re just yelling at me,'” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to Salem County First Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Flynn.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and a law-abiding citizen before the 8:19 p.m. accident.
“He’s an empathetic person and a loving father of two daughters,” defense attorney Matthew Portella said. “He’s a good person and he made a terrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had drunk five or six beers that day and admitted to drinking alcohol while driving, the complaint said. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor said Friday he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call about 3 p.m. and had an unpleasant conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone conversation with a friend while driving around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been aggressively following a sedan that was going just over the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes too close to the bumper, the driver told police.
As she and the vehicle in front of her slowed and veered left to avoid the cyclists, Higgins accelerated and steered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said District Court Judge Michael J Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” had caused two deaths.
Higgins could face up to 20 years in prison. The judge said he was a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for a company that provides addiction treatment and has fought in Iraq, his lawyers said, but his wife said he had been drinking regularly since he started working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, better known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third season with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million contract in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a period in which he emerged as one of the best players in the game and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as devoted to each other their entire lives. Both women are pregnant, and both delivered moving eulogies at a heartbreaking double funeral on Monday.
“I urge everyone to never drink and drive,” Madeline Gaudreau said. “Call a ride. Please don’t let another family go through this torture. The loss of Matty and John will leave a hole in the family, his closest friends, the community for eternity.”
Defense attorneys seeking bail suggested that Higgins could be restricted to driving with an interlock device to prevent him from drinking and driving. And they noted that he tested just over the legal limit, adding that recent knee surgery likely affected the field test.
But Flynn argued the locking mechanism would not stop what he called “the fundamental problem” of Higgins’ “angry and aggressive driving,” which was exacerbated by alcohol that day.