Hey Gov....
And don't forget,
The pics link directly to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General!
Posted on 04/16/2007 12:14:28 PM PDT by Omega Man II
Use of lights becomes a flash point
Monday, April 16, 2007
By HUGH MORLEY
STAFF WRITER
The use of flashing emergency lights on Governor Corzine’s SUV as he rushed to meet disgraced talk show host Don Imus and the Rutgers University woman’s basketball team has raised questions about whether their use was warranted.
The issue emerged after a New Jersey state police statement on Saturday showed that the flashing emergency lights played a role in triggering a chain of events that caused his SUV to crash on the Garden State Parkway, critically injuring the governor.
Some observers raised doubts as to whether it was an appropriate use of emergency lights, which are usually reserved for demonstrating that a vehicle is assisting in a crisis or emergency.
Robert J. Faugh, a retired New York state trooper who taught police officers to drive for 10 years, said such a use couldn’t be justified under his own state’s laws.
“Is that an emergency?” said Faugh, a state trooper for 26 years. “I don’t think so. I don’t think a jury would say that.”
In New York, he said, state troopers are permitted to use flashing red lights only if a vehicle is pursuing a lawbreaker, transporting a sick or injured person, responding to an accident scene or disaster, or similarly desperate situation.
A New Jersey State Police spokesman acknowledged Saturday that the planned meeting in Princeton between the shock jock and the Rutgers players was not an emergency. Capt. Al Della Fave also said emergency lights were used sporadically to help Corzine stay on schedule.
State police officials said Saturday that they did not plan to charge the driver of a red pickup truck, who was initially described as driving erratically and triggering a chain of events leading to the crash. The driver, a 20-year-old casino worker, told investigators that he was actually trying to avoid Corzine’s SUV.
It was unclear Sunday whether the use of flashing lights to get to the governor’s mansion in Princeton faster would violate New Jersey’s guidelines for their use by troopers, or even what the exact guidelines are.
David Wald, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said he didn’t have any details. And Acting Governor Richard Codey said there is “no set protocol.”
State police Sgt. Stephen Jones said the department will not answer questions about the use of emergency lights in this case until the accident investigation is completed.
The use of the lights by Corzine’s driver, Trooper Robert Rasinski, was one of several questions raised about the crash by Assemblyman Kevin O’Toole, R-Cedar Grove.
Angelo Tritini, a professor of criminal justice at Passaic County Community College, said each department generally sets their own guidelines, and the state has no universal policy that covers all police departments.
“It’s always been a controversy,” he said, adding that questions tend to rise after an incident in which an emergency light was used.
Nine months ago, then-Attorney General Zulima Farber prompted questions about her use of flashing red lights to drive to Fairview, where her boyfriend had been stopped by police.
An investigation by a retired appellate judge said that her arrival with lights flashing contributed to his conclusion that she had violated state ethics codes in the incident. She resigned shortly after the report’s release.
In 2005, a deputy from the August County, (Va.) Sheriff’s Department stopped a convoy of Passaic County police officers that was driving at a high speed with lights flashing as it returned from a Hurricane Katrina relief mission in New Orleans.
The Sheriff’s Department said the convoy — which received no summonses — was moving at 100 mph, which Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale disputed.
In Virginia, its illegal for emergency vehicles to flash their lights unless they are responding to an actual emergency.
Faugh said there is a trend among police departments to restrict the use of the lights, and the siren that often accompanies their use.
“There are just so many accidents and there are so many statistics to prove that the lights and sirens don’t get you there that much quicker,” he said. “But the accident rate goes up four times and the injury and death rate goes up 10 times when you use your lights and siren.”
E-mail: morley@northjersey.com
I see cops do this nearly every day on the NJ Turnpike. I always thought it would eventually create an accident.
It's pretty difficult to avoid incoming, rushing arrogance.
Given the current *emergency* that is global warming, does this mean that it is OK for Al Gore to tear around with lights-a-flashing?
I say yes!
Was the meeting in Trenton?
If I were going from AC to Trenton and I could drive as fast as I wanted, I wouldn't take the Parkway all the way up to Point Pleasant and then take 195 to Trenton. That's like 125 miles.
I'd take the AC Expwy to Camden and the Turnpike to to Trenton. That's like 100 miles.
So, if I see a vehicle with flashing lights behind me while I’m in New Jersey, is it an affirmative defense to say I thought it was the governor, not a police office that wanted to pull me over?
Wouldn't an alarm clock be cheaper?
I’ve been trying to figure out what a “special needs driver “ is since it was printed in the news .I still don’t know . Does it mean special needs as in physical or mental capability or a person that drives for special needs of the casino ?
Why didnt he just take a chopper ?
This all sounds like a bizarre screenplay for a B movie.
Weather. Low visibility, nasty winds.
I’m going to type what I originally thought “Why couldn’t this have been Hillary Clinton in the SUV?”...Now I’ll ask forgiveness for my petty thinking.
“Why couldn’t this have been Hillary Clinton in the SUV?”.
Please edit to say -” Hillary AND Bill Clinton”
Thank you !
Mr. Important doesn’t use seat belts and must have flashing lights to announce his routine drive back to Trenton.
Poetic Justice, in a a macabre way.
Hey Gov....
And don't forget,
The pics link directly to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General!
I read somewhere that Corzine was going to endorse Obama the next day. If that is true .. Was this a failed arakancide ?
I read somewhere that Corzine was going to endorse Obama the next day. If that is true .. Was this a failed arakancide ?
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