An ABC News producer and his wife left their two young daughters in a hotel room unattended to go to a restaurant with friends — before he suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack, NY Post reported.

Dax Tejera and Veronica Tejera allegedly left their daughters who are five months and two years old alone at the Yale Club at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue, police said per the Post. The two reportedly went out to grab dinner at Bobby Van’s 230Park steakhouse, with friends. Witnesses say that In the middle of dinner, Dax began to feel ill and when exiting the restaurant he suddenly collapsed. He was accompanied by his wife to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. 

Veronica Tejera was arrested just hours later on charges of child endangerment. She told the Post,

“When Dax collapsed on December 23rd, I accompanied him in an ambulance to the hospital. I asked both a close friend and my parents to rush to my children’s hotel room to attend to them as I monitored them by camera. The hotel would not allow my friend in and instead called the NYPD,”

the statement said. However, hotel staff says they discovered the children hours after the couple left. 

According to the outlet, the couple left the hotel at 8 p.m. and NYPD received a call from hotel employees on account of

“unattended children”

at 11 p.m.. Veronica is expected to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on January 12th.

Dax Tejera worked as a senior producer on

“This Week with George Stephanopoulos”

since 2017 before joining his current show in February 2020. 

#Clique, what are your thoughts?