NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother were killed on the eve of their sister’s wedding when they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey, police said Friday.
New Jersey State Police said the Gaudreau brothers were cycling on a road in Oldmans Township on Thursday night when a man driving an SUV in the same direction attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind about 8 p.m., less than a half-hour after sunset. They were pronounced dead at the scene some 35 miles south of Philadelphia.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother, Matt, 29, are Carneys Point, New Jersey, natives and were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding that was scheduled for Friday in Philadelphia.
Police said the driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins, was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Higgins told a responding officer he had five or six beers prior to the crash and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press. He failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said, though his blood-alcohol level was not…
