Corzine Asks for Seat Belt Citation, Pays $46 Fine, Aide Says
By Terrence Dopp
bloomberg.com
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine voluntarily paid a $46 fine today for not wearing a seat belt on the car ride that ended in a wreck on the Garden State Parkway April 12, critically injuring him.
Corzine agreed to pay the penalty for violating the state's seat belt law at the conclusion of a meeting with State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes and police investigators at the governor's mansion in Princeton, where he is recuperating, his spokesman, Anthony Coley, said.
``He answered every question to the best of his ability,'' Coley said. ``At the end of that meeting, he asked for and received a citation from Colonel Fuentes. He wrote out a check for $46 and he plans to overnight it this evening.''
The governor's vehicle, driven by a state trooper, was traveling 91 miles per hour (146 kilometers per hour) in a 65- miles-per-hour zone with emergency lights activated in Galloway Township near Atlantic City seconds before the accident. Corzine, who wasn't wearing his seatbelt, sustained 11 broken ribs, broke his thighbone, sternum, collarbone and vertebrae when the sport utility vehicle struck a guardrail.
When Corzine was released yesterday from Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, he tearfully admitted setting ``a poor example'' by not wearing the seat belt.
Larry Angel, a self-described political gadfly from neighboring Mullica Township, today withdrew a citizen complaint he filed against Corzine for violating the belt law. Angel said in an interview said he was glad to hear Corzine paid the fine.
``Those were not crocodile tears,'' said Angel, 65. ``I felt those tears were real and we all make poor choices.''
Corzine continued a physical therapy program yesterday. No date has been set for him to resume his gubernatorial duties, which are being handled by the acting governor, State Senate President Richard Codey, a fellow Democrat.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey at at tdopp@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 1, 2007 17:53 EDT |
