OT: Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau killed in drunk driving incident

[SLAYER]

Yeah, this so f***in' sad. I was hoping the rumors last night were untrue.

RIP Johnny Hockey.

 

[Finnflash]

Terrible. Always a fan of his.

Is it me or have there been more than usual car (pedestrian) accidents/deaths lately?

Always terrible to hear these stories.

Embrass every day.

 

[roccerfeller]

I was really hoping all the reports on this last night weren't true. Two brothers taken way to soon. If some of the initial reports are to be believed it was a drunk driver. And his sisters wedding was supposed to be today.

Man I really feel for that family.

Edit: Found a release.

PEDRICKTOWN, N.J. (CBS) — Columbus Blue Jackets player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother were killed in a crash Thursday night in Salem County, New Jersey, State Police confirmed to CBS News Philadelphia.

Gaudreau, 31, and his 29-year-old brother Matthew were riding bikes on County Route 551 in Oldmans Township, Salem County on Thursday night when they were struck by a man driving a Jeep.

Police said the driver, 43-year-old Sean Higgins of Woodstown, New Jersey, attempted to pass a slower vehicle when he hit the Gaudreau brothers.

The Blue Jackets confirmed the Gaudreaus deaths in a post on X.

Higgins was detained under suspicion he was under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto. He was taken to the Salem County Correctional Facility.

According to officials, the New Jersey State Police talked to the driver who remained at the scene.

Absolutely brutal news and heartbreaking

 

[SUX2BU]

tragic on so many fronts

Condolences to the Gaudreau family

 

[SLAYER]

Terrible. Always a fan of his.

Is it me or have there been more than usual car (pedestrian) accidents/deaths lately?

Always terrible to hear these stories.

Embrass every day.

More cars on the road every year = more car related injuries and fatalities every year.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Really tragic news.
Condolences to the families. The parents losing 2 sons at the same time must be absolutely devastating.

 

[ThinIce61]

Wow. RIP Johnny & Matthew. What an unbelievable tragedy. Gives perspective on how insignificant some of our day to day troubles are.

Live life to the fullest. Tomorrow is never promised.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Really tragic news.
Condolences to the families. The parents losing 2 sons at the same time must be absolutely devastating.

There’s been talk on the main boards that the father had a heart attack after hearing the news. Nothing officially reported though.

I took a look at the highway on Google maps. Appeared to be a dangerous corner, with a bend upcoming near where the accident occurred so a solid no passing line existed.

Police reports have 2 vehicles being passed by the Jeep driven by the accused. Both vehicles erring on the side of caution slowing traffic as they didn’t want to pass the bikes. The jeep drove around the first vehicle (likely illegally due to the solid line) but couldn’t continue passing as the next vehicle had moved over and was driving down the middle of the highway (a stupid move in itself) to provide the Gadreau’s extra room. The Jeep driver then attempted to pass this vehicle in his natural lane but needed a portion of the shoulder to do so.

In all likelihood he was so distracted at the the two drivers in front of him, that he failed to see the bicyclists.

In news footage of the accident, it was raining heavily when the police were on site, so weather could have played a factor, although it certainly may not have been raining at the time of the accident, but certainly was once the ambulance and police arrived on scene.

The accused pulled over and remained on the scene, perhaps even being the one to make the 911 call. He admitted to the police he had 5-6 beers that night, but no timeframe for that consumption has been listed. I would doubt this man was heavily intoxicated.

With that said, you can’t have a single drink and then drive. If you’ve ever been involved in an accident the first thing MPI adjusters ask is if you’ve partaken of drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours. Admitting so invalidates your claim. Being involved in an accident involving injury or death leaves you culpable.

The point being you’re playing with fire every time you get behind the wheel after a single drink. It just takes the wrong circumstance to forever change your life, and leave your reputation tarnished as a murderer.

The driver could easily be the pos many are referring to him as, but if you’ve ever been at a restaurant, maintained no more that the one drink an hour rule that the responsible servers seminars preach, you could find yourself labelled a pos as well. Tens of thousands in Winnipeg will be doing this tonight.

The slogan isn’t don’t get intoxicated and drive. It’s don’t drink and drive.

 

[Guardian17]

Devastating news.

Two lives snuffed out because some idiot decided to drive drunk.

 

[WolfgangPuck]

Super sad for Gaudreau family
Not just one loss but two losses
Johnny Hockey still lives in my memories
Condolences to Mathew and Johnny’s family

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

There’s been talk on the main boards that the father had a heart attack after hearing the news. Nothing officially reported though.

I took a look at the highway on Google maps. Appeared to be a dangerous corner, with a bend upcoming near where the accident occurred so a solid no passing line existed.

Police reports have 2 vehicles being passed by the Jeep driven by the accused. Both vehicles erring on the side of caution slowing traffic as they didn’t want to pass the bikes. The jeep drove around the first vehicle (likely illegally due to the solid line) but couldn’t continue passing as the next vehicle had moved over and was driving down the middle of the highway (a stupid move in itself) to provide the Gadreau’s extra room. The Jeep driver then attempted to pass this vehicle in his natural lane but needed a portion of the shoulder to do so.

In all likelihood he was so distracted at the the two drivers in front of him, that he failed to see the bicyclists.

In news footage of the accident, it was raining heavily when the police were on site, so weather could have played a factor, although it certainly may not have been raining at the time of the accident, but certainly was once the ambulance and police arrived on scene.

The accused pulled over and remained on the scene, perhaps even being the one to make the 911 call. He admitted to the police he had 5-6 beers that night, but no timeframe for that consumption has been listed. I would doubt this man was heavily intoxicated.

With that said, you can’t have a single drink and then drive. If you’ve ever been involved in an accident the first thing MPI adjusters ask is if you’ve partaken of drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours. Admitting so invalidates your claim. Being involved in an accident involving injury or death leaves you culpable.

The point being you’re playing with fire every time you get behind the wheel after a single drink. It just takes the wrong circumstance to forever change your life, and leave your reputation tarnished as a murderer.

The driver could easily be the pos many are referring to him as, but if you’ve ever been at a restaurant, maintained no more that the one drink an hour rule that the responsible servers seminars preach, you could find yourself labelled a pos as well. Tens of thousands in Winnipeg will be doing this tonight.

The slogan isn’t don’t get intoxicated and drive. It’s don’t drink and drive.

From what you describe of his driving, stone cold sober his driving is inexcusable. But there is always his side of the story.

But if impaired (and 5-6 beers within several hours is still impaired) there is no excusing it.

 

[Jets 31]

There’s been talk on the main boards that the father had a heart attack after hearing the news. Nothing officially reported though.

I took a look at the highway on Google maps. Appeared to be a dangerous corner, with a bend upcoming near where the accident occurred so a solid no passing line existed.

Police reports have 2 vehicles being passed by the Jeep driven by the accused. Both vehicles erring on the side of caution slowing traffic as they didn’t want to pass the bikes. The jeep drove around the first vehicle (likely illegally due to the solid line) but couldn’t continue passing as the next vehicle had moved over and was driving down the middle of the highway (a stupid move in itself) to provide the Gadreau’s extra room. The Jeep driver then attempted to pass this vehicle in his natural lane but needed a portion of the shoulder to do so.

In all likelihood he was so distracted at the the two drivers in front of him, that he failed to see the bicyclists.

In news footage of the accident, it was raining heavily when the police were on site, so weather could have played a factor, although it certainly may not have been raining at the time of the accident, but certainly was once the ambulance and police arrived on scene.

The accused pulled over and remained on the scene, perhaps even being the one to make the 911 call. He admitted to the police he had 5-6 beers that night, but no timeframe for that consumption has been listed. I would doubt this man was heavily intoxicated.

With that said, you can’t have a single drink and then drive. If you’ve ever been involved in an accident the first thing MPI adjusters ask is if you’ve partaken of drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours. Admitting so invalidates your claim. Being involved in an accident involving injury or death leaves you culpable.

The point being you’re playing with fire every time you get behind the wheel after a single drink. It just takes the wrong circumstance to forever change your life, and leave your reputation tarnished as a murderer.

The driver could easily be the pos many are referring to him as, but if you’ve ever been at a restaurant, maintained no more that the one drink an hour rule that the responsible servers seminars preach, you could find yourself labelled a pos as well. Tens of thousands in Winnipeg will be doing this tonight.

The slogan isn’t don’t get intoxicated and drive. It’s don’t drink and drive.

He may not be a piece of shit but he sure as hell is dumb as shit, like others have said there is absolutely no reason to drink and drive today with all the different ways you can get around now. Just a stupid selfish thing to do and now 3 families are never going to be the same.

 

[raideralex99]

Such sad news … condolences to the Gaudreau family.
Wow CBJ must be cursed this is the third time a tragedy has happened in the CBJ family.


I noticed lately there are a lot of bad drivers on the road. Seriously I’m starting to wonder how these people even get their licenses they have no idea what signs mean or what the lines on the road are for.

 

[SensibleGuy]

regardless of the drinking and driving element of the story (which is definitely bad don't get me wrong) it sounds like there was a heaping helping of classic "I wanna go faster than the people in front of me are so here I go" asshole driver behavior at play.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

From what you describe of his driving, stone cold sober his driving is inexcusable. But there is always his side of the story.

But if impaired (and 5-6 beers within several hours is still impaired) there is no excusing it.

From every EMS worker and first responder I’ve ever talked to: whatever a person answers for “how much have you had to drink tonight”, multiply by 2.

And with that said, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this guy crushed a dozen drinks before getting behind the wheel. Strong odor of alcohol (per police report) suggests he was extremely impaired.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Still a sense of disbelief around this.

RIP to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, and condolences to all their family and friends. What an unbelievable tragedy.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Still a sense of disbelief around this.

RIP to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, and condolences to all their family and friends. What an unbelievable tragedy.

There is a certain level of shock when it comes so suddenly and unexpectedly. We are all feeling a bit of that.

I can only imagine what it is like for his family. No, I was thinking I could relate it to shocks like that I have had. But none that I have experienced would enable me to imagine losing 2 of your children like that. And then of course, there are the other family and loved ones. I can't imagine that.

Just a terrible tragedy.

 

[MardyBum]

regardless of the drinking and driving element of the story (which is definitely bad don't get me wrong) it sounds like there was a heaping helping of classic "I wanna go faster than the people in front of me are so here I go" asshole driver behavior at play.

You see them so often. Just today two people going 80 down waverly in front of me (the limit further south for those not from here) and some asshole switching lanes and riding their asses trying to push one of them to speed up so he can fly by at 100+. Now put 10+ drinks in that idiot.

Always for nothing but a few more minutes at best faster of a ride.

 

[SensibleGuy]

You see them so often. Just today two people going 80 down waverly in front of me (the limit further south for those not from here) and some asshole switching lanes and riding their asses trying to push one of them to speed up so he can fly by at 100+. Now put 10+ drinks in that idiot.

Always for nothing but a few more minutes at best faster of a ride.

exactly. Watching these douche nozzles weaving in and out of rush hour traffic every morning is infuriating.

 

[DRW204]

You see them so often. Just today two people going 80 down waverly in front of me (the limit further south for those not from here) and some asshole switching lanes and riding their asses trying to push one of them to speed up so he can fly by at 100+. Now put 10+ drinks in that idiot.

Always for nothing but a few more minutes at best faster of a ride.

just camp out on kenaston after ikea and ppl ride the shoulder all the time.

 

[ERYX]

Yeah...losing both your brothers the night before your wedding? Can't even imagine...just unbelievably sad.

I hope the driver that hit them is an absolute pos because the thought of somebody who's otherwise a decent person who made the worst mistake imaginable is also a very sad thing.

I'm with @Daximus, driving while drunk in and of itself makes you a POS in my books. Can't add to what he said, there's just no excuse for it whatsoever with all the education out there and the myriad of options to get home.

Terrible terrible thing for the Gaudreau family to go through. I feel sick to my stomach thinking about the fact that a widow and young children are left behind as a result of this.

 

[ERYX]

Is it me or have there been more than usual car (pedestrian) accidents/deaths lately?

Well, the population of Canada hit 40 million in June. This time last year it was only 38 million, and this doesn't factor in all the temporary workers and students that have been much discussed in the news lately. So there are a lot more cars on the road nowadays, and as a result it would not surprise me if collisions are up (I prefer to say collision vs. accident since few are true accidents, most are the result of alcohol, speed, or inattention).

 

[KingBogo]

What horrible news. I can’t imagine what their family is going through right now.

 

[GeorgeJETson]

You see them so often. Just today two people going 80 down waverly in front of me (the limit further south for those not from here) and some asshole switching lanes and riding their asses trying to push one of them to speed up so he can fly by at 100+. Now put 10+ drinks in that idiot.

Always for nothing but a few more minutes at best faster of a ride.

I see those types every day driving down the perimeter. Sometimes I shake my head.

You can't fix stupid.

---

Heard about this over lunch today, as we were out for a work thing. I always skip the booze if I'm driving, which I was.

This tragedy boils down to bad decisions from the driver: drinking before driving, trying to get around slower vehicles because he wants to drive faster, or some combinations of both. It's too bad that others had to lose their lives because of someone else's careless decisions.

My condolences to the entire Gaudreau family.

 

[Jets 31]

regardless of the drinking and driving element of the story (which is definitely bad don't get me wrong) it sounds like there was a heaping helping of classic "I wanna go faster than the people in front of me are so here I go" asshole driver behavior at play.

Those drivers are horrible but there are other ones on the road that just pure and simple don't know how to drive. Going 30km's a hour under the speed limit and in the fast lane is almost as dangerous. The police should pull them over and give them a ticket for dangerous driving too.