Driver charged with killing NHL's Johnny Gaudreau and his brother had .087 blood-alcohol level
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of . 087, above the . 08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday. Prosecutors say the driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of . 087.
That's above the . 08 legal limit in New Jersey. At a virtual court hearing Friday, they say 43-year-old suspect Sean Higgins also has a history of road rage. A judge has ordered him detained until trial. Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed near their childhood home in South Jersey on Aug.
29, the evening before they were set 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 death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving. “'You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do.
And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,'” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County. The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the 8:19 p. m. crash. “He’s an empathetic individual, and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella.
“He’s a good person, and he made a horrible decision that night. ” Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol.