ABC News' Dax Tejera died from choking amid 'acute alcohol intoxication' — not from a heart attack as news network originally indicated
ABC News' Dax Tejera died from choking amid "acute alcohol intoxication," USA Today reported — not of a heart attack as the news network originally indicated in December.
What are the details?
USA Today — citing the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner — said the 37-year-old executive producer died Dec. 23 from "asphyxia due to obstruction of airway by food bolus complicating acute alcohol intoxication."
Tejera's death also was ruled an accident, USA Today reported.
Kim Godwin, president of ABC News, issued a staff memo at the time of Tejera's passing that indicated he died "suddenly of a heart attack," the Hollywood Reporter said.
Fox News said ABC News did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
In addition, Tejera's wife, Veronica, was charged in early January after police said she and her husband left their 5-month-old girl and 2-year-old girl unattended while the couple went out to dinner on the evening Dax Tejera died.
A spokesperson for the NYPD’s public information office told Variety that Veronica Tejera was booked on two counts of “acting in a manner injurious to a child."
Police said they responded to a report of unattended children at the address of the Yale Club, a members-only Manhattan hotel.
According to the New York Post, Veronica Tejera said in a statement that when her husband collapsed, she accompanied him to the hospital and asked her parents and a close friend to watch their children “as I monitored them by camera.”
But she said the hotel wouldn’t allow her friend in and called police instead, the Post noted.
However, the Post — citing sources — said "the children were left unattended for much longer while the two went out on the town at Bobby Van’s 230Park, around the corner from the private club, before Dax Tejera, 37, collapsed outside the eatery."
Veronica Tejera was given a desk ticket and released.
Anything else?
Dax Tejera was executive producer of the ABC News Sunday public affairs program "This Week," the Reporter said.
Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott reported on Tejera's death and said he "will be deeply missed by all of us here at ABC News":
\u201c.@RachelvScott reports on the sudden passing of Dax Tejera, the Executive Producer of @ABCThisWeek. In a memo to employees, @ABC President Kim Godwin said that Dax's passion and love for the show shined every Sunday morning.\u201d— World News Tonight (@World News Tonight) 1671933614