The alleged drunk driver accused of fatally mowing down NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother last year is fighting to keep his confessions to cops the day of the accident hidden at trial.
Sean Higgins was in a Salem County Courtroom Wednesday as four of the cops who responded to the Aug. 29, 2024, crash recounted how he spilled his guts to them over the course of that evening.
New Jersey State Police Sgt. Kenenth Flanegan testified that he was on his way to the scene of the accident, in which the Columbus Blue Jackets player and his brother Matthew Gaudreau were allegedly struck by Higgins while riding bikes, when the sergeant came across Higgins outside of his car looking “frantic.”
“I hit them. I hit them,” Flanegan recounted Higgins saying to him.
The sergeant instructed Higgins to stay where he was while Flanegan went to scene of the accident, Flanagan testified.
Flanegan was the first responder on scene, with EMS arriving “seconds” later and informing the sergeant “there were no signs of life,” he testified.
Several clips of the cops’ body camera footage was played in court, including one video in which Higgins asked New Jersey State Police Trooper Zachary Harding, “Is anybody dead back there?”
Higgins could be heard explaining to Harding how the crash went down, including claiming that he tried to pass a slow driver but the driver moved into the oncoming traffic lane where he was going to pass in. The accused killer said he was forced back into the original lane when he hit the two cyclists.
“I passed back over because he was passing [in] this lane. I hit the bikers,” Higgins said.
In another video, Higgins could be heard saying, “My life is over. I just hit people, apparently. I don’t know what the hell I just hit. I hit bikers who were in the middle of the road, in the dark.”
Higgins made the statement to New Jersey State Police Troopers Mark Allonardo and Adam Crespo as he was getting his blood drawn at the hospital to test his alcohol level — which was allegedly .087, slightly higher than the Garden State’s .08 legal limit.
Allonardo testified that at the scene, “I could detect an odor of alcoholic beverage from defendant’s breath as I spoke to him.”
Allonardo told the judge that he ended up having Higgins take the field sobriety test shortly after — which he failed.
In one body cam video made public last year, Higgins admitted just before taking the field sobriety test, “I mean I’ve been drinking beers, but I haven’t had one in like two hours.”
He also allegedly told cops at one point that he had had “five or six drinks.”
Wednesday’s testimony was being used by prosecutors and Higgins’ defense lawyers as they fought over whether Higgins’ statements should be allowed in at trial.
Higgins’ side argued that he wasn’t properly read his Miranda rights as cops spoke to him that night and that despite the fact he asked for a lawyer during his interview at the police station, cops continued to question him.
Meanwhile, prosecutors counter that Higgins was read his rights both at the scene of the accident and at the police station and he indicated he understood and agreed to speak, according to a report by the Columbus Dispatch.
Higgins — who’s previously rejected a 35-year-sentence plea deal — has pleaded not guilty to reckless vehicular homicide, aggravated manslaughter and related charges. He faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Judge Michael Silvanio has already previously rejected Higgins’ bid to keep evidence collected from his Jeep out of trial.
Silvanio earlier this year also rejected Higgins efforts to have the charges against him reduced or dropped on the grounds that the brothers, who were more drunk than him, contributed to the accident.
Matthew, 29, and Johnny, 31, had blood alcohol levels of .129 or above — which were higher than Higgins’ own BAL. The brothers were in town for their sister’s wedding the day after they were killed.
Higgins is accused of crashing into the siblings while they were riding bikes single-file on the shoulder of a road in Oldsmans Township, NJ, around 8:20 p.m.
He allegedly passed two cars, which had slowed to watch the two cyclists. Higgins said the cars were going around 30 and 40 mph when he decided to pass and struck the brothers. He pulled over roughly a quarter mile down the road, where cops found him.