Grim Details Emerge on Driver Charged With Killing NHL Player and Brother

The tragic deaths of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew on Aug. 29 rocked the sports world and their own family just hours before their sister's wedding. The two hockey players were laid to rest earlier this week in a joint funeral, and on Friday, the man charged with killing the brothers faced prosecutors in court for his actions.

According to The Associated Press , 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of Woodstown, New Jersey is charged with two counts of death by auto as well as reckless driving , possession of an open container, and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. During a hearing on Sept. 13, prosecutors outlined a history of alleged aggressive driving, prompting the judge to order that Higgins is held in custody for his trial given he was deemed a flight risk facing up to 20 years behind bars.

"'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,'" Higgins' wife reportedly told him when he called her from jail after he was arrested, according to a county prosecutor.

The prosecution explained that Higgins had a blood-alcohol level of .087, slightly above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, at the time of the accident. He works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and his wife told authorities he'd been drinking regularly since he started working from home during the pandemic.

Related: Athletes Pay Tribute to Late NHL Star Johnny Gaudreau

Court documents revealed that Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to drinking while behind the wheel; after he was detained, he also failed a field sobriety test . The prosecution recounted in the latest hearing that he'd been drinking at home after finishing a work call around 3 p.m. and later having a difficult conversation regarding family with his mother.

Thirty-one-year-old Johnny and 29-year-old Matthew were biking in the evening on Aug. 29 when Higgins struck both of them with his vehicle. They were both set to appear as groomsmen at their sister's wedding the following day.

"He indicated he didn’t even see them," the judge said of Higgins' actions, attributing the brothers' deaths to the driver's admission of "impatience" on the road.

At the Gaudreaus' joint funeral, their widows Meredith and Madeline mourned their husbands' deaths and marveled at their tight-knit brotherly relationship throughout their lives. They're both expecting children with their late husbands, with Johnny's wife Meredith revealing her pregnancy during her moving eulogy.