Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Corzine Fined, at His Request, for Not Wearing a Seat Belt

May 2, 2007

TRENTON, May 1 — Gov. Jon S. Corzine voluntarily paid a $46 fine on Tuesday for failing to wear a seat belt, as required by law, on the day when his state vehicle crashed on the Garden State Parkway last month, state officials said.

Mr. Corzine, 60, a Democrat in his first term, was seriously hurt in the accident, losing half his blood and breaking more than a dozen bones. But his failure to wear a seat belt — and the question of whether he would be fined — became an obsessive water-cooler topic, as some people in even the staunchest Democratic neighborhoods criticized his behavior.

So on Tuesday, when Mr. Corzine met with Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, the state police superintendent; Attorney General Stuart Rabner; and two other officials investigating the April 12 accident, he asked for a summons. Colonel Fuentes wrote a ticket on the spot; Mr. Corzine, a multimillionaire and former co-chairman of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, paid by personal check, covering the $20 fine and related court costs.

“It’s been a good amount of time since the superintendent issued a summons,” said Capt. Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the state police.

Mr. Corzine’s decision came hours after a New Jersey resident dropped a complaint demanding that the governor be ticketed and not receive preferential treatment.

Larry Angel, a lifeguard from Egg Harbor Township who is known for his long speeches at public meetings, had originally filed a complaint in Municipal Court in Galloway Township, where the accident took place. But he told reporters on Tuesday that he had dropped the complaint because Mr. Corzine’s apology on Monday on his release from the hospital seemed sincere.

Mr. Corzine, who was discharged on Monday, is expected to spend the next few weeks, if not months, recovering from his injuries at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton, and not the Hoboken apartment where he previously spent most of his time. As of Tuesday evening, officials said, he had not yet left the private second-floor residence of the mansion, since a hospital bed and assorted equipment related to his rehabilitation and physical therapy are all there.

He has spent most of the last two days with his family, closest aides and medical personnel, aides said. But when he met with law enforcement officials on Tuesday to talk about the accident, he told them that “he remembered some details, but not all of them,” said Anthony Coley, his communications director.

For now, two separate panels are investigating the accident. One, organized by Mr. Rabner and including such dignitaries as former Gov. Christie Whitman, will focus on reviewing the Executive Protection Unit, the elite cadre of state troopers assigned to drive the governor and provide security for him. The panel is scheduled to meet for the first time on Friday in Trenton.

The other panel consists of an internal state police review, to determine whether the accident could have been prevented. If so, disciplinary action may be meted out against the state trooper, Robert J. Rasinski, who was driving Mr. Corzine at 91 miles per hour when the crash occurred.

State officials expect both panels to produce findings within the next two months.

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