TRENTON, N.J. – A team investigating the crash that seriously injured Gov. Jon S. Corzine has determined that the state trooper at the wheel could have prevented the April 12 accident, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.
Citing an anonymous state law enforcement source, The Star-Ledger said State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes has received the conclusions of the State Police Motor Vehicle Accident and Vehicular Pursuit Review Board.
Fuentes is expected to issue a response to the finding this afternoon, according to the newspaper, which said the official did not want to be named so as not to upstage the announcement.
Corzine was critically injured in a crash on April 12 when his trooper-driven SUV slammed into a guard rail on the Garden State Parkway near Atlantic City.
The governor broke 15 bones and spent eight days on a ventilator; he is undergoing extensive rehab on a badly broken femur and returned to the Statehouse for the first time last month.
A black box recorder showed the SUV to be traveling at 91 mph seconds before the crash. Corzine, who was riding in the front passenger's seat, was not wearing a seat belt.
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