Corzine in stable condition after crash

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine remains in critical condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., after a severe car accident on the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township on Thursday night left him unable to breathe without the aid of a ventilator.

Corzine broke 12 ribs along with his sternum, collarbone and left leg in the accident, which occurred when a red pickup truck swerved onto the highway, forcing another pickup into the path of the governor's car. Corzine's driver, state trooper Robert Raksinski, subsequently lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid the truck and hit a guardrail.

The governor — who was reportedly not wearing his seatbelt — lost about half of the blood in his body and underwent several surgeries, including two separate operations on his leg and removal of fluid that had collected outside his left lung.

Corzine, an ex officio trustee of the University, cannot speak because he is connected to a breathing tube and thus remains incapable of performing his gubernatorial duties. New Jersey Senate President Dick Codey has assumed Corzine's official duties, as the state does not have a lieutenant governor.

Corzine is officially listed as "critical, but stable" according to a press release on the governor's website. The governor can recognize and respond to visitors, his eldest son, Joshua Corzine, said at a press conference at the hospital.

When the accident occurred, the governor was on his way to meet with embattled radio host Don Imus and the members of the Rugters women's basketball team at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton. Imus had been fired earlier that day for a derogatory reference to the team on his nationally syndicated radio show. The governor was driving in from Atlantic City after having attended an event there.

The meeting proceeded even after those in attendance had been notified of Corzine's accident and resulted in Imus' apology to the team. "We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team accept ... Mr. Imus' apology, and we are in the process of forgiving," Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer said at a press conference the day after the meeting.

Details of the meeting's proceedings were not readily available, however. "We're trying to let this matter rest," Rutgers associate director of athletic communications Stacey Brann said in an interview. "It was a private matter."

Corzine is the third New Jersey governor in a row to break a leg while in office. Previously, Christie Todd Whitman broke her leg while skiing and James McGreevey broke his leg by falling from a boardwalk in Cape May.

Corzine's accident also sets another pattern of three, as Codey assumes the state's highest office for the third time. In 2002, he became acting governor after Whitman resigned to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and he did so again in 2004 when McGreevey resigned following an affair with a male state employee.

"From every point of view, this is not a fortuitous time for him [Corzine] or for the state," former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean '57 told The New York Times, noting that the incident comes at a critical time in Corzine's term.

The governor had been working to combat New Jersey's financial woes and had proposed to sell state assets — including, ironically, the toll highway on which the crash occurred — to stave off a budget crisis. The state government had already shut down for three days earlier in Corzine's term, after lawmakers initially refused to raise the state sales tax.

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Joshua Corzine, along with his brother Jeffery and sister Jennifer Pisani, told reporters they were optimistic about their father's recovery. "We're giving him the thumbs up right now," Pisani said, "so we're really feeling good about what's happening."

After the accident, Corzine was extricated from his vehicle and airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, the nearest Level I Trauma Center, where he was rushed to the operating room for the first of several surgeries. Corzine was conscious when he arrived at the hospital, and doctors could find "no evidence of spinal or brain damage," hospital spokeswoman Lori Shaffer said.

The governor will undergo yet another surgery this morning, and it is unclear how long it will take him to recover, hospital officials said.

Raksinski and Corzine aide Samantha Gordon, who was also riding in the vehicle, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and both have since been released.

The red pickup that initially caused the accident left the scene, but authorities identified the driver after a lengthy search that included reviewing toll plaza video recordings. He will not be charged, the Associated Press reported, because the man was trying to make room for the governor's motorcade when his vehicle went onto the shoulder, causing him to compensate by swerving left.

"He hadn't any inkling that he contributed to it," New Jersey police captain Al Della Fave said. "That alleviates him of the responsibility of remaining at the accident scene. There's nothing he did here criminally. He did what he felt was the best he could."