NJ Governor Jon Corzine was on his way to mediate a meeting between the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team and Don Imus, bigot shock jock (yeah, we knew he was a bigot for years, but his remarks against Jews don’t raise eyebrows). The governor’s SUV crashed.
The crash occurred about 6 p.m. as Corzine’s two-car motorcade was heading north to Princeton after a long day of travel that included appearances in Pennsylvania, Bergen County and South Jersey.
Corzine was sitting in the front passenger seat of the black Chevy Tahoe, alongside his driver, Trooper Robert Rasinski, according to New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes. In the back sat Samantha Gordon, an aide who typically accompanies Corzine when he travels beyond the Statehouse.
It was not immediately clear if the governor or the others were wearing seat belts.
“The State Police will be addressing that in their investigation,” Coley said.
The motorcade was headed north in the left lane just past mile marker 44 when a red pickup truck entered the road from the shoulder and crossed into the path of a white Dodge Ram truck, police said.
The Dodge then swerved in front of the governor’s SUV, colliding with the Tahoe and sending it careening onto the highway median and into the metal guardrail, police said.
There are going to be many who are going to blame the whole Imus thing for this. But I’m wondering why it takes an investigation to discover whether or not the governor was wearing a seat belt.
Let me give you a story of two other high-speed crashes. One of them involved a fairy princess in the far-off land of England, who was not wearing her seat belt as the car she was in was driven by rapacious, evil paparazzi. It crashed. She died. So did everyone else in the car, except for the man wearing his seat belt.
Then there was the story of another Jersey guy who was coming home from a business trip on a two-lane highway in NJ on Saturday afternoon. A drunk driver passed out behind the wheel and hit him head-on, doing 55 mph, the legal speed limit. He broke both arms and his nose, but he survived. So did the drunk, who suffered only bruises. They were both wearing their seat belts. The innocent driver was my brother.
If the governor of NJ was not wearing a seat belt, my sympathy level for him evaporates. Completely. And I find it rather suspicious that no one else in the car was badly injured. HOWEVER—it does look like the front passenger side took the most damage. So I’m reserving judgment until I hear the news conference later today.
Update: He wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
“It does not appear that the governor was wearing a seat belt,” said Anthony Coley, the governor’s spokesman, at a press conference outside Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where hospital and government officials held a press conference at 11:35 a.m.
Moron.
Hospital sources who did not want to be named say Corzine is in worse condition than is publicly acknowledged, and that he’s likely to be in a wheelchair for at least six months.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Seat belts saved my life, and saved me from serious injury more than 20 years ago, when wearing seat belts wasn’t mandatory. I would never travel on a highway without my seat belt secured.
Ridhard Codey is going to be the NJ substitute governor for some time.
There are more reports indicating that Corzine wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and that he regularly doesn’t wear a seatbelt despite being required to as a front seat passenger under NJ law.
While I’m no fan of the governor’s policies or politics, I do hope he has a speedy recovery. He’s going to be in quite a bit of pain for a good long time considering all of his injuries. He’s lucky to be alive.
Silly Meryl,
Laws are for peons such as you and I, NOT for important politicans.
Maybe he can use this to save other people from going through pain like his.
I don’t understand. Ever since I started flying, I wear seatbelts anywhere I find them. They keep me from bouncing around anytime we hit turbulence above or bumps below.