A team of crash investigators has determined the state trooper driving Gov. Jon Corzine on April 12 could have prevented the crash on the Garden State Parkway that put the governor in the hospital for 18 days, a state law enforcement official said.
The State Police Motor Vehicle Accident and Vehicular Pursuit Review Board has forwarded its conclusion to Superintendent Rick Fuentes, who is expected to issue his response to the finding this afternoon, according to the official, who did not want to be named so as not to upstage announcement.
Fuentes, attending a Senate committee hearing this morning, confirmed an announcement was imminent, saying, "This afternoon we hope to bring it to closure."
The governor, who was not wearing a seat belt, was seriously injured in the crash that occurred just after 6 p.m. on April 12 as a two-vehicle convoy was rushing Corzine from Atlantic City to Drumthwacket for a meeting.
Crash investigators later determined Corzine's driver, Trooper Robert Rasinski, was driving 91 mph in a 65 zone when it was clipped by a pickup truck and slammed into a guardrail. The governor was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Corzine suffered 15 broken bones, including 11 broken ribs and a fracture of his femur that ripped a six-inch gash in his thigh. He was sedated and on a ventilator for more than a week.
This isn't much of a surprise. As we've learned since the accident, there was no reason for the driver to be speeding, nor was there any reason for Corzine to be riding around without a seatbelt.
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