Posted on 01/10/2006 5:24:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle illegally over the weekend when he collided with a car in his Brentwood neighborhood, the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday.
Police Lt. Paul Vernon said Schwarzenegger does not have the proper motorcycle endorsement on his California driver's license, contradicting statements made by his spokeswoman since the Sunday accident that left the governor with 15 stitches in his upper lip. "He does not have the license," Vernon said.
Police did not cite the governor because they arrived after the accident, Vernon said. Police referred their findings to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which will determine whether the governor should be cited for an infraction.
The city attorney's office could not immediately confirm receipt of the department's report.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, acting on initial information Sunday, said the governor's Class C license allowed him to ride the motorcycle with its sidecar attached. His 12-year-old son, Patrick, was riding in the sidecar but was not injured.
Schwarzenegger, a Harley Davidson owner who rides regularly with friends along the California coast, said Tuesday that he never bothered to obtain a California motorcycle license because he "never thought about it."
"I just never really applied for it," he said, responding to a reporter's question during a state budget briefing. "It was just one of those things that I never really did."
Schwarzenegger collided with a car while riding his motorcycle with his son near his Los Angeles home.
In a statement issued after the LAPD's announcement, Thompson said the governor "will move forward to get the appropriate endorsement."
To get an M-1 or M-2 endorsement, a motorcycle rider must pass a Department of Motor Vehicle skills test or take a motorcycle training course from a program approved by the California Highway Patrol.
Driving a motorcycle without the proper license is an infraction that can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more.
Schwarzenegger said he had a motorcycle license when he lived in Europe, but never thought about getting another one after he immigrated to the United States in 1968.
California Highway Patrol officers accompanied Schwarzenegger on Sunday's ride, but a spokesman said he could not discuss if the officers had checked, or would check in the future, if the governor had a proper license.
"I can't comment on any procedure that our protective services detail utilizes with the governor," spokesman Steve Kohler said. "That's standard CHP policy."
Schwarzenegger was asked about his lack of a proper motorcycle license on the same day that state Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, reintroduced his bill to allow illegal immigrants to get California driver's licenses. Schwarzenegger has vetoed that bill twice.
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Associated Press writers Steve Lawrence in Sacramento and Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
FALSE. His legal CA driver's license covers a motorcycle with side car (that's what he was operating). That critical information is *conveniently* left out of this slanderous article.
I've definitely wondered about it though. Other (ridiculous) possibilities include blue screen work or a body-double and digital head replacement (such as used in recent Star Wars films or even as far back as The Crow). That would be cost prohibitive when you could simply get Arnold licensed in CA!
Nina Cohen, president of the Mandeville Canyon Homeowners Assn., said the city should improve safety measures along the residential street, which she called "very unsafe."
"I hope some good will come out of this," Cohen said Monday. "We have been trying to make the canyon more safe for walkers, hikers and bicyclists."
Cohen said many residents fail to clear hedges lining the road, which restricts visibility along the canyon.
"Thank God he wasn't badly hurt or his child wasn't hurt," she said. "Maybe it will make people realize they need to slow down and heed rules and regulations about keeping their shrubbery cut back."
City law prohibits homeowners from allowing their shrubs to grow onto city property, which on Mandeville Canyon Road ranges from 18 feet to 25 feet on either side of the pavement, Cohen said.
But many homeowners on the street are in violation of the ordinance, as well as another that limits shrubbery from being taller than 42 inches in the frontyard of a home, she said.
No mention in the article about whether overgrown shrubbery was a factor in the accident.
Schwarzenegger did have the appropriate class liscense to operate a motorcycle with sidecar. He just lacked an M1 endorsement to operate a motorcycle.
Half truths, a hallmark of the Schwarzenegger administration.
And now, the press is digging even more. Check out this morning's SacBee:
In 1983, Schwarzenegger was cited for having no valid driver's license while operating a 1978 Jeep that rolled down an embankment 15 miles west of Palm Springs, according to press accounts. Schwarzenegger told CHP officers he had pulled to the side of the road to switch drivers and didn't see the embankment.The Sacramento Bee reported a couple years ago that while serving in the Austrian Army, Arnold rolled his tank into a river. I think the lesson is: Don't drive with Arnie.Maria Shriver, who was not yet married to Schwarzenegger, was in the Jeep and told the CHP officer she had some leg pain but refused treatment at the scene.
I hear ya. lol
The DMV says one thing, the CHP another ( I think) and the MSM is getting all they can out of a 'bump' in the road.
Where's Geraldo , Heck, where's Shep? ;-)
It sounds like Schwarzenegger's staff is the one spinning. When asked by the reporter, he didn't even try to justify it. You can listen to his statement at the press conference (transcribed below)
http://kfi640.com/timages/page/media/GOV_EXPLAINS.rm (Real Media Player)
Reporter:
I wanted to know about your motorcycle rides and no drivers license, Governor. Could you comment on that? Because today Senator Cedillo introduced the drivers license bill.
Schwarzenegger:
Very nice. [laughter]
Ummmm, I mean, err... I just never really... uh... got one.
[laughter]
Never thought about it. You know, I had one, like I say, when I was back in the military in Austria we had to take the drivers license for the motorcycle and for sidecars and cars and trucks and trucks with hangars and tanks... all of those things. And then I used that when I went to Germany... lived in Germany. And then when I came over here in the beginning I used that and, uh, I just never really, uh, applied for it. And it was just one of those things. I never thought about it.
Yes he is!
Really?
Yes, you are correct, I forgot about the 3 wheeled vehicle law, which makes Arnold legal to drive in this case. I fell for the old lie about anything MSM trick, I can't believe I did that! I stil think the motorcycle license law is BS and needs to be repealed, it is only used to increase revenue, fat chance of ever getting it repealed though.
See post #18
Since the poster is from Massachusetts (according to their profile), I wonder what station and program they were listening to.
Me, too. The media here sure wouldn't report that.
>>The media here sure wouldn't report that.
Perhaps because it didn't happen?
I'm skeptical, too.
"From 1968?"
Not sure, I have an international drivers license and I don't see an epiration date on it.
I assume you were listening to the Howard Stern Show on Sirius Radio. He has a Schwarzenegger impersonator on there all the time making disparaging comments about Mexicans and Asians. It is not Governor Schwarzenegger. It's a fake.
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