Gov. Jon Corzine Injured In Car Crash

News reports are coming through that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was badly injured in a car crash that came as he was heading to a meeting between just fired DJ Don Imus and members of the Rutgers lady's basketball team.

The reports indicate that he broke his leg and suffered some kind of a chest injury and he was airlifted to a nearby hospital for surgery.

DEVELOPING

UPDATE:
Here is a photo and more details on Gov. Corzine's schedule. He had been in Atlantic City for a conference and was heading back to Trenton to be present for a meeting at the Governor's Mansion where Don Imus and the Rutgers team was supposed to meet.

He had been driving in a motorcade in a sport utility vehicle that was somehow involved in a crash with another vehicle:

State Police spokesman Capt. Al Della Fave said the accident was caused when a red pickup truck swerved into the path of another vehicle. That second vehicle then swerved into the path of the governor's vehicle which drove off the road onto the median to avoid it, striking a metal guardrail.

The driver of the second vehicle stopped, but the red pickup did not, Della Fave said. "If an individual was operating a red pickup truck in that area, we hope they contact the New Jersey State Police,'' he said.

A state trooper, a member of the governor's security detail, was also injured in the crash. Della Fave had no information regarding his name or the nature of his injuries.

A source close to the governor said that Samantha Gordon, the governor's personal aide, and the trooper were "shaken up" in the crash but not seriously injured. Both were taken to hospitals to be checked out by doctors as a precaution, that source said.

Corzine suffers from a leg fractures and multiple broken ribs. The surgery is to deal with the leg fractures.

I wish Corzine, Gordon, and the trooper a speedy recovery.

UPDATE 4/13/2007:
The extent of Corzine's injuries is quite bad: 12 broken ribs, broken sternum, broken collarbone, and compound fracture to his leg. It will be several days before he could resume his duties as governor and it will be several months before he'll be able to walk normally again. Law enforcement is still trying to find the red pickup truck that appears to have been the proximate cause of the accident.