Another death but it is not what you think…
According to a medical examiner’s report, a 37-year-old ABC News producer who was reported to have died of a heart attack last year actually died from choking while drunk.
Dax Tejera, the executive producer of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” died of a heart attack last Christmas, according to ABC News President Kim Goodwin. However, the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City told the New York Post on Wednesday that the young producer died from “asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway by food bolus complicating acute alcohol intoxication.”
According to the New York Post, Tejera was at Bobby Van’s 230Park in New York City for a dinner with friends on the night of his death.
When the meals arrived, Tejera allegedly got up from his seat, walked outside, and collapsed.
“The server said that he collapsed in the corner, right here outside the restaurant,” an employee of the restaurant reportedly told the Post. “It was terrible.”
His wife, Veronica, was arrested for child endangerment hours after his death, with police alleging the couple left their two daughters — a 2-year-old and a 5-month-old — in a hotel room for a “extended period of time,” according to Variety. Veronica defended herself by claiming that she had asked her parents to watch her children while she was in the hospital, but the hotel refused to let them in.
“We had two cameras trained on my children as they slept, and I monitored them closely in the time I was away from them,” she told the Post. “While the girls were unharmed, I realize that it was a poor decision.”
Tejera joined ABC News in 2017 after previously working for NBC News, MSNBC, and Fusion. According to Media Moves, he began hosting “This Week,” a Sunday morning talk show hosted by George Stephanopoulos, near the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott said Tejera’s death “has left us shocked and hurt.”
“As EP of ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ Dax’s energy, passion, and love for that show, ABC News, and you, shined every Sunday morning,” Godwin said. “That same love was extended to his precious girls.”
Godwin added: “Our thoughts are with his wife, Veronica, the couple’s two young daughters, and the entire Tejera family.”
