In the body cam video, Higgins is first seen with a lit cigarette in hand telling an approaching officer he had just come from Taco Bell
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Officials in New Jersey have released a 911 call and police body cam footage from the night Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were killed by suspected drunk driver Sean Higgins in New Jersey.
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In the video obtained by CBS and multiple other media outlets, an officer conducts field sobriety tests on the 44-year-old Woodstown, N.J., man in the minutes after the collision that killed the NHL star and his younger brother as they were cycling on the shoulder of the road the evening before their sister’s wedding on Labour Day weekend.
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Meanwhile, portions of a heavily redacted 911 call from the scene obtained by NJ.com seem to corroborate witness and Higgins’ accounts of striking the brothers as he illegally passed other vehicles.
‘I’m just freaked out’
In the nine-minute body cam video, Higgins is first seen with a lit cigarette in hand telling an approaching officer he had just come from Taco Bell, before which he was home.
Asked how much he’s had to drink, Higgins tells the officer he’d “been drinking beers” but hadn’t consumed any in about two hours.
“Since the accident, probably an hour or so,” he clarifies.
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As the officer begins the sobriety tests, Higgins offers that he had knee surgery the previous Friday and was “gimping around.”
When asked if he was injured in the accident, Higgins says he is “just freaked out.”
Standing on the yellow line in a Lacoste t-shirt, white shorts and flip-flops, Higgins is instructed to take 9 steps forward, turn, and take 9 steps back.
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At the end of his first 9 steps, he appears to wince in pain and say “Ow” before asking if he should keep going.
What we know about the driver who allegedly fatally hit Johnny Gaudreau and his brother
“Like I explained: nine steps forward, series of small steps, nine back,” the officer says, after which Higgins audibly winces again as he returns in the other direction.
During the one-leg stand test, Higgins stops at counting at six.
“I’m sorry,” he says, putting his foot down. “I’m just freaked out. What am I supposed to be doing again?”
Another attempt ended when he reached 11 before putting his foot down and saying, “It’s getting hard.”
The officer inquires again about how much Higgins has drank and is told “like five or six” since noon. Seconds later, the married father of two is in handcuffs and being read his rights.
As the video ends, Higgins asks, “Is everybody okay back there? I mean, what happened?”
“We’ll talk about that when we get to the station,” the officer responds.
911 audio
The Gaudreau family acted early in seeking a court order to keep 911 recordings and other public records from being released, per NJ.com and multiple other sources.
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After the order was overturned, police and the local prosecutor’s office came to terms with the family regarding the information, giving them first rights and allowing them to decide what to share with the media.
In the one brief audio snippet disseminated last week, a young-sounding woman tells the dispatcher that as her mother in the driver’s seat of their vehicle moved to make space for two cyclists, “someone came up super fast on her right side and hit the two people on bikes.”
Under questioning following his arrest, Higgins ”confirmed the vehicles were side by side when he hit the Gaudreaus and was therefore attempting to pass on the right,” according to a statement of facts filed by the Salem County prosecutor’s office in October.
Asked if anyone is hurt and their condition, the woman says “they’re both on the ground” and notes it’s too dark to see clearly, at which point the audio ends.
Officials also released a crash report that indicates Johnny was leading the way, with Matthew following when they were hit around 8:19 p.m., according to the Columbus Dispatch.
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It also shows Higgins continued for another 1,500 feet, close to half a kilometre, before stopping.
No court dates on the docket
Higgins remains in custody awaiting his next court appearance on preliminary charges of two counts of death by auto, reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a vehicle.
The Iraq veteran and financial consultant for an addiction treatment company was last in court on Nov. 12 when a judge gave prosecutors an additional 30 days to seek formal grand jury charges.
Having attended all of his previous hearings via video, the court date was the first time Higgins and the Gaudreau family faced one another in court.
A spokesperson for Salem County Court told the National Post via email there are no court hearings scheduled for the matter.
Johnny, a 10-year veteran of the NHL and known best as “Johnny Hockey,” was a fan favourite in Calgary where his career began with the Flames and in Columbus where he was set to begin his third season with the Blue Jackets.
His brother played professionally in the AHL and ECHL before becoming a coach for Gloucester Catholic High School, the brothers’ alma mater.
– With files from The Associated Press
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