Body cam footage released in Gaudreau brothers tragedy

A few days ago, a video was released by the New Jersey State Police showing the arrest of Sean Higgins, who struck and killed Columbus Blue Jackets star forward Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother Matthew. They were riding bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, on August 29, on the eve of their sister’s wedding, where both brothers were to be groomsmen.

In the video, Higgins is visibly shaken and keeps repeating that he was “freaked out” and asked if the men were okay while he was undergoing a roadside sobriety test after the accident.

“I’m just freaked out,” Sean M. Higgins told police officers.

He is then heard saying how it had been about an hour after his last drink, and that he had had “five or six Miller Lites” since noon that day.

“I mean, I’ve been drinking beers, but I haven’t had one in, like, two hours.”

Toward the end of the video, Higgins once again said he was “freaked out” and asked vaguely about the accident.

“Is everybody okay back there?” he said. “What happened?”

The police officier can be heard, off camera, answering: “We’ll talk about that once we get to the station.”

Unfortunately, we all know how no one was okay as both Johnny and Matthew were pronounced dead at the scene.
Johnny was 31 years old at the time of his death, while Matthew was 29. Meredith Gaudreau is pregnant with the couple’s third child as the couple shared daughter Noa and son Johnny. Matthew Gaudreau’s wife, Madeline, is also expecting a child, the couple’s first, a son due this month, who will be named Tripp.

Higgins is charged with two counts of death, and also charged with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle, meaning Higgins could face up to 20 years in prison.