Posted on 04/14/2007 11:09:02 PM PDT by dennisw
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- State Police have declined to charge the 20-year-old driver of a pickup truck for leaving the scene of a crash that critically injured Gov. Jon Corzine this week after the man told investigators he was trying to make room for the governor's motorcade. However, authorities left open the possibility the driver could face other charges in the coming days, saying the investigation is not complete. State Police still want to interview Corzine, who remained on a ventilator Saturday, unable to speak.
Surgery on the governor's injured leg was successful Saturday, and another operation was planned for Monday.
The pickup truck driver, who is blamed for Thursday night's wreck, told investigators he didn't stop because he did not realize he was involved. The man's name was not released by state police because he was not charged.
"He hadn't any inkling that he contributed to it," New Jersey State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said. "That alleviates him of the responsibility of remaining at the accident scene. There's nothing he did here criminally. He did what he felt was the best he could."
Della Fave said the driver saw Corzine's motorcade with its flashing lights traveling in the left lane, and edged his pickup truck further to the right to give the official vehicles a wide berth
In so doing, the red pickup's right wheels went onto the grassy highway shoulder, alarming the driver. He looked up to see a highway mile marker sign directly in front of him, and steered hard to the left to avoid hitting it.
That brought the red pickup back onto the roadway and into the path of a white pickup truck, which also swerved to the left to avoid the red truck. The white vehicle struck Corzine's sport utility vehicle, sending it careening into a guard rail.
The driver of the red truck was found Friday night at an Atlantic City casino where he works and interviewed by police. He was found using information from local police and leads generated from parkway surveillance cameras and toll information, police said.
The driver of the truck picked it up Saturday afternoon at the New Jersey State Police station in Buena Vista, but did not talk to the media.
At his home in Little Egg Harbor Township, a man who answered the door angrily ordered reporters to leave the property, and would not speak with them.
The driver could not be located Saturday night at the casino where he works.
Corzine had been on his way to a meeting at his mansion in Princeton between radio show host Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team.
The 60-year-old governor, who was not wearing his seat belt in the front passenger's seat, broke his leg, 12 ribs, his breastbone and suffered a broken collarbone. He also had a head laceration and a minor fracture on a lower vertebra
It's funny about being "driven". I have always been amazed by my business colleagues who would never think of driving or riding without a seatbelt, except that, when they get in a taxicab, they somehow think it's unnecessary. As if taxi drivers are immune from collisions. Hah!
His accident got me to remind my 19-year-old daughter to wear her seatbelt. She laughed. She can't remember a time -- as passenger or as driver -- where she has ever been in a moving car without a seatbelt.
Yes, you have gleaned the sequence of events the way they were reported.
NOW.... go back to your #3. How does that happen? I mean, WHERE did the white pick-up come from? How on earth did it get BETWEEN the red pick-up and the motorcade?? And mostly, why are we not hearing jack squat about that vehicle and its driver?
Silly/ post of the year nomination.
LOL!
Janet Reno got into a wreck with hers too. Two, if you count the one in Marathon, FL, where she got charged with careless driving.
Somewhere out there is a cartoon with a crash dummy and Corzine going through a windshield. I can’t find it.
Why a red pick up truck? You’ve gotta figure, that at any point along the governor’s exhilarating journey, several vehicles were forced to make sudden lane and/or speed changes. That SUV may have been functioning as an accident statistic generator on wheels.
So... how many vehicles were dodging the governor’s SUV within the few seconds before the accident. Perhaps the red pick up truck was remembered for its size and color, not that the driver did anything more drastic than a hundred cars behind it. The stand-out vehicle becomes the “hit-and-run” scapegoat.
As long as everyone else is theorizing...
A liberal is never at fault.
The prince felt he was above the law (of physics) and has paid the price.
Bravo! You've said it all. Why the hell did Corzine's motorcade have flashing lights? Was this an emergency? Why wasn't the governor wearing his seat belt?
The crash reportedly happened around 6 P. (rush hour). The gov was, according to Mapquest, 85 miles/ 1 hour 43 minutes from his reported destination. (Milepost 43.4 Garden State Parkway to 354 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ).
I don't know the time the meeting was set to convene. But, allowing (even) for a late start--8 PM--, IMO, you can bet the farm that the gov's SUV was speeding.
Glad you are ok :-)
“That SUV may have been functioning as an accident statistic generator on wheels.”
You’re right.
It has long been well known that high speed isn’t nearly as dangerous as DIFFERENCE in speed. The latter was discoverd (by nys DOT?)some years ago to be most dangerous and the cause of most accidents.
New Jersey’s governor is more exciting than my governor. All she does is raise taxes, give away hundreds of millions to crooked politicians and blame Bush for the bad state economy, all while not breaking a single bone.
Can we borrow Corzine’s driver?
Even if the red truck went off the asphalt and swerved back on to avoid hitting a sign, the white truck should have seen this coming. Do you think the white truck was trying to pass the guy drifting off the road? I don't.
And the motorcade in the left lane most assuredly should have been trained in defensive driving. This whole report smells.
Even if the red truck went off the asphalt and swerved back on to avoid hitting a sign, the white truck should have seen this coming. Do you think the white truck was trying to pass the guy drifting off the road? I don't.
And the motorcade in the left lane most assuredly should have been trained in defensive driving. This whole report smells.
His features resemble someone having Downs Syndrome.
In Michigan the ‘craps blame Bush and former governor John Engler for the state’s dismal economics so maybe its Bush and John Engler. And don’t forget Karl Rove he had a hand in it too.
Seems to me that the Govenor’s motorcade caused the accident.
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