Friday, April 13, 2007

The Governor of New Jersey Jon S. Corzine was hospitalized Thursday after the vehicle he was riding in crashed into a guardrail on Garden State Parkway. The Governor was on his way to a meeting between the Rutgers University basketball team and radio personality Don Imus.

Corzine was riding in the front passenger seat when a red pickup truck drifted onto the shoulder. As the truck corrected itself, a white pickup swerved to avoid it, hitting the motorcade SUV he was riding. Corzine suffered six broken ribs, a broken collarbone, broken sternum, fracture of his lower vertebrae, a broken leg, and a head gash. He is in stable condition following surgery at Cooper University Hospital, but will require more surgery to repair a broken femur that broke through the skin. The trooper driving the vehicle suffered minor injuries.

Senate President Richard Codey will serve as governor while Corzine is in the hospital. An aide to Corzine said he was not wearing a seat belt.