ABC producer drunk, small children left in resort room, when he died: reports
The tale of the sudden dying of well known ABC information producer Dax Tejera, whilst dining out with his spouse in New York City, before Christmas, has grown ever additional disturbing with experiences Wednesday that he choked to demise at dinner owing to “acute alcohol intoxication.”
This information from New York City’s Place of work of the Main Professional medical Examiner usually means that 37-12 months-previous Tejera, govt producer of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” could have been perfectly on his way to a higher degree of intoxication when he and his spouse, Washington Post producer Veronica Tereja, produced the astonishing decision to go away their daughters, 2 decades and 6 months, alone in their room at the special Yale Club on the night of Dec. 23.
Just after the substantial-traveling media few tucked their daughters into mattress, they left two cameras on to monitor them when they slept, Veronica Tejera stated, just after her arrest on child abandonment charges, The Everyday Mail described. The Tejeras reportedly then satisfied friends for what was described as a leisurely evening meal at upscale Bobby Van’s steakhouse on Park Avenue, about a block absent, stories say.
ABC producer Dax Tejera choked to death whilst drunk as he and spouse left young children on your own in NYC resort area https://t.co/5N35NeWKdQ pic.twitter.com/m2P0xmGHng
— New York Submit (@nypost) February 8, 2023
But the couple’s evening out to rejoice the holidays took a tragic flip when Tejera “seemed unwell shortly into the meal,” a server at Bobby Van’s told The New York Write-up.
“So, ahead of anyone ate, just soon after the server introduced the orders, he asked, ‘Are you Ok, sir?” a restaurant employee explained to The Write-up.
The reportedly inebriated producer then “got up and began walking like he was likely to the men’s space but he made a right in its place and went out the front door and the server adopted him exterior,” the worker informed The Article.
“The server stated that he collapsed in the corner, suitable in this article outside the house the restaurant,” the staff mentioned. “It was awful and a terrible shame they still left tiny, tiny small children alone like that.”
The Health care Examiner’s Place of work reported the bring about of dying was “Asphyxia thanks to obstruction of airway by meals bolus complicating acute alcoholic beverages intoxication,” the Write-up and Day-to-day Mail noted. Consuming significant stages of alcohol is recognized to hinder alerts in the brain that control the gag reflex, raising the chance of choking on food although consuming.
New York City’s Office of the Main Health-related Examiner instructed me Dax Tejera’s loss of life was an “incident.” https://t.co/PgFQ4dgcHg by way of @thedailybeast
— Matt Youthful (@MattYoung) February 9, 2023
Tejera was rushed to Bellevue Clinic following collapsing but pronounced useless on arrival, the Each day Mail mentioned. His wife accompanied him in the ambulance, although she mentioned her mother and father and a mate were being asked to acquire the little ones at the Yale Club.
But Yale Club employees referred to as law enforcement at all around 11 p.m., soon after they found the little ones experienced been left unattended for at the very least two hours, the Every day Mail mentioned. The small children were unharmed.
Veronica Tejera was arrested by the NYPD at all around 12:20 a.m and billed with two counts of “acting in a fashion injurious to a baby,” the Daily Mail said.
“Tragic accidental death aside — as a mother I could hardly ever, in a million many years, depart my tiny kid alone in a lodge (awake or asleep) … this is …… unimaginable,” Canadian broadcaster Jody Vance tweeted, expressing the views of several dad and mom about the Tejeras’ final decision.
Tragic accidental demise aside — as a mother I could by no means, in a million a long time, depart my compact little one alone in a resort (awake or asleep) … this is …… unimaginable https://t.co/N3p8XOLwUS
— Jody Vance (@jodyvance) February 9, 2023
Veronica Tejera was produced from custody soon after 4 a.m. She issued a statement, admitting it was a “poor decision” to leave their daughters on their own. The former CNN producer insisted she “monitored them intently in the time I was absent from them.” In her statement, she also appeared to lash out at the Yale Club for calling police, declaring she experienced named her parents and a shut good friend to obtain her daughters whilst she went to the clinic. “The hotel would not permit my close friend in and as an alternative termed the NYPD,” Veronica Tejera said.
To whatsoever extent Veronica Tejera experimented with to fault the Yale Club, police said the kids ended up “left by yourself within of a hotel room for an prolonged interval of time,” the Every day Mail reported.
After ABC News President Kim Goodwin at first claimed that Tejera died of a coronary heart assault, Veronica Tejera launched a fundraiser for her children’s 529 school account, the Each day Mail said. The page claimed, “Dax Tejera handed away all of a sudden, leaving 2-year-aged Sofia and 6-month aged Ella with out their father. Be sure to guidance the girls’ education.
Tributes also poured in from colleagues at ABC Information and throughout media for Tejera and his wife, who stuffed their social media feeds with satisfied household images and visuals of them on getaway in international destinations this kind of as Bali, Venice, Bermuda and St. Barts. In an obituary, ABC Information remembered Tejera as a “champion of journalism and individuals.”
“Dax’s vitality, enthusiasm and enjoy for that show, ABC News and you, shined each and every Sunday early morning. That similar appreciate was prolonged to his valuable women,” Godwin claimed in a notice to personnel. The working day Tejera died, he posted a image of himself and Veronica at the White Property with Joe and Jill Biden, a photograph of their daughters in what appears to be like a lodge space overlooking the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Centre and a relatives image of the four in entrance of one more Xmas tree.
Excellent Morning The us correspondent Gio Benitez mentioned on Instagram: “’As you rejoice Xmas Eve with your people, you should keep Dax Tejera’s relatives in your ideas and prayers. He was the Govt Producer of This Week ABC, a buddy to all of us, and — most importantly — a loving spouse to Veronica and devoted father to two gorgeous minor women, Sofia and Ella.”
