Potts leaving State Police barracks after being interviewed.
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
What is his name?? Normally when they decline to use the name it means something!
If the other drivers were killed, instead of Corzine being injured, what would the MSM story line be?
It would be , “Wow, governor avoided collision and possible death, aren't we so lucky”. End of story, bury the dead peons.
Why was the governor traveling at a high rate of speed with lights and escort? Imus? Pathetic. Not official business, imo.
My children have been trained Marine-style: in every car you take, particularly taxis, nothing happens until you’re strapped in.
I wonder if its still against the law to speed if you are governor with a statey driving?
or do you get an exemption to go 90 on the Garden State Pkwy?
anyone know?
Anyone else would have been cited for not wearing the seatbelt;our overseers are always somehow exempt from the laws they write-but not from the laws of physics!
The NY Times has a flash graphic recreating the accident:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/nyregion/20070413_CORZINE_GRAPHIC.html?_r=1&oref=login
I can’t attest to its accuracy, but it shows the red pickup entirely on the shoulder before the white vehicle overtakes it. If that’s the case, there’s no way one could say the red truck wasn’t at fault. He left the highway and then returned with no warning. It doesn’t matter whether he was surprised by a sign in his path on the shoulder...he’s expected to scope out and anticipate such obstacles BEFORE he pulls onto the shoulder. According to this recreation he was at fault and should be cited.
The graphic shows something else I hadn’t realized. Corzine’s vehicle did a 270 degree turn...TOWARD the direction of the impact. That is, the SUV rotates right-— toward the center lane-—and continues for 3/4 of a circle until it comes to a stop facing the left guard rail. If a vehicle is struck on its front passenger-side (right) bumper, wouldn’t you expect it to rotate left? It sounds like Corzine’s driver overcompensated after the impact and lost control when he turned his wheels into the “skid”.
He really does. Even more, it looks to me like he got exactly what he deserved. For no legitimate reason he was driving recklessly in a loud, obnoxious motorcade with lights flashing and speeding beyond normal traffic speed, forcing other drivers off the road, simply to be able to get to a narcissistic photo op. If he'd instructed his driver to drive politely, legally, and carefully, this never would have happened. Instead he chose to be the usual arrogant, obnoxious, DemonRAt liberal pig who flaunts his power by violating the laws he insists all the little people adhere to. Unfortunately for him, he didn't manage to repeal the laws of physics and he finally got the comeuppance he so richly deserved.
Corzine had his emergency lights on to go to a meeting with DON IMUS. Then his handlers try to blame the accident on other people and when that doesn’t pan out are now insisting the Gov was doing the speed limit: 65mph. Anyone who is familiar with the Garden State knows that 65 is simply standing still. No way was he doing the speed limit.
I’m just happy that the pols of NJ have decided not to frame someone for this incident.
In some states, people with Epilepsy can drive if they just promise to use meds.
My brother was a Driver instructor for people with disabilities in NJ. He had to teach a women that had severe vision impairment. He was in shock, and could not believe she had a permit. She could read, but could not focus on anything while moving. This was 20 years ago.
I’ll call him and get a refresher.
I had the same take. The physics don't add up.
A witness last night indicated speed was not a factor in the crash. The man, who State Police confirmed was a witness to the accident, told The Star-Ledger he was driving alongside the governor’s SUV moments before the crash. The man, who asked not to be named because State Police told him not to speak to the media, said both his vehicle and the SUV were going 65 mph, the posted speed limit on that part of the Parkway. The governor’s two-car motorcade was traveling with flashing lights on at the time of the crash.
It was directly in front of me on a dry road. The truck flipped on its side as I drove around it to avoid it. I stopped. The driver opened his passenger door toward the sky to get out. it was amazing.
We were only doing 20 MPH when he finally rolled - tipped. He struggled for 5 seconds trying to gain control, but could not.
my beloved yellow cruiser (the police cruiser to my friends) is now gone :-(
Dang. Sorry about that but I'm happy you were wearing the belt. You're still here. You can get an even better car.
Potts leaving State Police barracks after being interviewed.
I think they do. The trooper turned sharply to the right to overcome the counter-clockwise skid caused by the impact. But he overcompensated and caused the rear end to violent skid in a clockwise rotation.
Given the assumption that the trooper would have had extensive defensive driving instruction on overcoming a skid, I conclude that speed was very likely a factor.
If both vehicles were going the posted limit, why should he be muzzled by the cops? Maybe the cops figured he would talk nonetheless, and made it clear to him what story to tell?
not to speak to the media...ongoing investigation? Smells.
When you talk to someone with a gun strapped on their hip, it’s smart to tell them exactly what they want to hear. (His boss, his co-worker, they were not speeding, and that you yourself were not speeding.)
Accident investigators are expected to pull data from the crash data retrieval system of Corzine’s SUV. The device, similar to the “black boxes” recovered after airplane crashes, could tell how fast the truck was traveling at the time of the accident, and contain other clues as to how the crash occurred.
“Anything we can get our hands on, we will look at anything,” said Sgt. Jeanne Hengemuhle, spokeswoman for the New Jersey State Police.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/corzine_crash/
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