New Jersey State Police officer Sean Higgins is depicted in the background. In the foreground, Columbus Blue Jackets’ left wing Johnny Gaudreau is shown playing during the second period of an NHL hockey match against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. The image was captured by Jeff Dean and released by the Associated Press.
Police body camera video released by the New Jersey State Police shows troopers administering sobriety tests to the accused drunk driver who plowed over NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother.
A wobbly Sean Higgins told troopers he was “freaked out” about the situation as they guided him through a series of test, the video showed. About an hour earlier around sunset on Aug. 29, Higgins was trying to pass a car on the left when he allegedly hit Gaudreau, 31, and his younger brother Matthew Gaudreau as they rode their bikes along the road.
A trooper approached the 43-year-old Higgins who was standing outside his car.
“Where were you coming from, sir?,” the trooper asked.
“Taco Bell,” Higgins responded, later saying he was at his house before that.
The trooper then asked how much he had to drink.
“I mean, I’ve been drinking beers but I haven’t had one in like two hours,” he said.
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Troopers checked Higgins’ eyes and had him walk forward and then back. Higgins wobbled a bit as he walked. Then the trooper had him stand on one foot with the other about six inches off the ground, which Higgins struggled to complete, blaming it on a recent knee surgery.
“I’m sorry, I’m, I’m just freaked out like, what am I, what am I supposed to be doing again?” he said.
Higgins then admitted to drinking “five or six” beers during the day. A trooper subsequently placed Higgins under arrest, putting him in handcuffs before reading him his rights.
“Is everything OK back there? I mean, what happened?” Higgins asked while handcuffed.
The trooper said they would talk about that later. In fact, things were not OK as the Gaudreau brothers were dead. Johnny Gaudreau, who starred for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, and Matthew Gaudreau hailed from New Jersey and were in town for their sister’s wedding.
Higgins reportedly had a BAC of 0.087 — just a shade over the legal limit of 0.08. A grand jury indicted him last week on two counts of second-degree reckless vehicular homicide, two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, fourth-degree tampering with evidence and second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
