ABC producer Dax Tejera looked so ill before his death that a waiter checked on him before he choked

ABC news producer Dax Tejera had looked so ill outside a steakhouse in Bobby Van in the moments leading up to his death that a waiter checked on him.

Tejera, 37, died at the restaurant two days before Christmas while vacationing with his family in New York City.

His bosses at ABC previously attributed his death to a heart attack, but a coroner has since told DailyMail.com he choked on food because he was drunk.

Staff at the expensive restaurant now say he looked so ill shortly after eating that a waiter asked him, “Are you alright, sir?” before collapsing outside.

Just hours after his death, his wife Veronica Tejera was arrested on child endangerment charges after it was revealed the couple had abandoned their children, aged two years and five months, in their hotel room.

ABC News producer Dax Tejera reportedly looked so ill shortly after his meal at a Manhattan steakhouse on December 22 that a waiter checked on him

Tejera and his wife Veronica, pictured together, were out in New York City for dinner while their children were left alone at the Yale Club

At the restaurant, an employee recalled that Tejera seemed unwell shortly after eating and prompted a waiter to check on him.

“So before anyone ate, just after the waiter brought the orders, he said, ‘Are you alright, sir?'” the contributor told the New York Post.

At that point, he said, the drunk producer “got up and started walking like he was going to the men’s room, but he turned right instead and walked out the front door, and the waiter followed him outside.”

“The waiter said he collapsed in the corner, right here in front of the restaurant,” the unnamed employee told the Post.

“It was horrible, and a horrible shame that they left little, little children alone like that.”

Tejera’s official cause of death was given as “asphyxia due to airway obstruction from food bolus complicating acute alcohol intoxication.”

News of his death was first shared by ABC News President Kim Godwin, who said Tejera “died suddenly of a heart attack.”

The producer had collapsed and was taken to Bellevue Hospital after the incident, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Veronica, 33, was riding in the ambulance with her husband while the couple’s friends went to the Yale Club to pick up the children.

But Yale Club staff called police around 11 p.m. after finding the children had been left unattended for at least two hours.

Veronica was arrested by the NYPD at approximately 12:20 a.m. and charged with two counts of “acting in a manner that harms a child.” The children were unharmed with their grandmother.

Dax Tejera, pictured with his children and wife Veronica, died on December 23 after suffocating at a Manhattan steakhouse. Veronica was arrested after it emerged the couple had left their daughters, aged two years and five months, alone in a hotel room over dinner

The couple left their daughters alone for at least two hours while they had dinner at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse at 230 Park Avenue in Manhattan, about a block from the Yale Club. Picture left: The entrance to the steakhouse. Picture right: Dax and Veronica in 2018

Veronica was released from custody just after 4 a.m. She has admitted leaving her daughters alone was a “bad decision”.

Police said the children were “left alone in a hotel room for an extended period of time”. Veronica, a Washington Post executive producer, has insisted the couple “had two cameras on the kids” while they slept.

She was charged with two counts of “harmful behavior towards a child” and was given a ticket obliging her to appear in court at a later date, police said. The NYPD said Wednesday afternoon it had no further information on the case.

Bobby Van’s — where a steak dinner and drinks cost around $200 a head — is about a block from the Yale Club.

The couple were celebrating the holidays in New York and had plans to visit friends and go to Rockefeller Center, reports say.

Dax and Veronica Tejera left their kids alone in their room at the Yale Club for at least two hours while they ate dinner at Bobby Van’s. Veronica was arrested by police for “acting to harm a child.”

The couple enjoyed dinner at Bobby Van’s on December 23 while vacationing in New York City

The NYPD said it received an emergency call about “unattended children” at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue in Manhattan, home of the members-only Yale Club, at 11 p.m. on Dec. 23.

They discovered that “a two-year-old woman and a five-month-old woman were left alone in a hotel room for an extended period of time.”

The Yale Club is an exclusive club for Yale University alumni. It includes guest rooms ranging from budget studios to luxurious 556-square-foot suites.

The club also has luxurious rooms for weddings and private events, as well as fitness facilities and a library.

Veronica’s LinkedIn profile recently listed her as an executive producer at The Washington Post, which she joined in October 2022. Prior to that, she spent nearly six years at CNN.

Her profile says her accomplishments there include producing an interview with President Joe Biden on The Lead with Jake Tapper.

Tejera with Katie Couric and Jorge Ramos at the 2016 Republican National Convention

Tejera with ABC colleagues at a meeting with President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden

After her husband’s death, she started a fundraiser for the Tejera children’s 529 college account. The page reads: “Dax Tejera died suddenly, leaving 2-year-old Sofia and 6-month-old Ella without their father. Please support the girls’ education.”

Tejera’s colleagues paid tribute to the producer after his death.

Tejera has worked at ABC since 2017, when he started as a senior producer in the station’s Washington DC office

Good Morning America correspondent Gio Benitez said in a touching Instagram post, “As you celebrate Christmas Eve with your families, please keep Dax Tejera’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

“He was the Executive Producer of This Week ABC, a friend of all of us, and most importantly, a loving husband to Veronica and devoted father to two beautiful little girls, Sofia and Ella.

“Dax has been a champion for so many at ABC News and a leader in groundbreaking television specials.”

Benitez posted a photo of the couple at the White House, explaining that it was taken “for a one-of-a-kind Pride special from the network” after an interview with spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

“We’ve often referred to being exactly the same age: 37. Far too young to be gone now. We will miss you very much, Dax. Good luck my friend,” Benitez wrote.

Cecilia Vega posted her own tribute, writing alongside a photo of Tejera: “Your smile. Your laugh. Your engagement. Your deep love for Veronica and your beautiful daughters. Your pride in your work. The way you cared about the next generation and fought to pave the way for aspiring Latinos.

The tributes to the 37-year-old father of two were spearheaded by journalists and former colleagues

“How you broke through barriers yourself. How you always cheered me on and believed in me. Your sleek Miami style and the fact that you never wore socks even on the coldest of days. Dax Tejera, you left way too soon.

“We will miss everything about you. Your family was so lucky to have you. Your legacy lives on in all those you have championed and cheered on.’

Tejera has worked at ABC since 2017, when he started as a senior producer in the station’s Washington DC office.

He previously worked at NBC and holds degrees from both Dartmouth and Columbia.