TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- The "unauthorized" use of emergency lights by a state trooper helped trigger the events that led to the April car accident that nearly killed Gov. Jon S. Corzine, New Jersey State Police concluded in a report released Thursday.
The report found the use of emergency lights by Trooper Robert Rasinski on the sport utility vehicle in which he was driving the governor didn't directly cause the crash.
"However, the use of the emergency lights did contribute by initiating the chain of events that resulted in this crash," the accident report found.
A state police accident review board last week found Rasinski could have prevented the Garden State Parkway crash, which occurred April 12 as Rasinski drove 91 mph in a 65 mph zone.
Still, state police never explained how he could have prevented the crash.
But the report released Thursday noted Rasinski's speed and use of emergency lights were deemed "unauthorized" by the state police superintendent.
The crash occurred after two pickup trucks trying to avoid the Rasinski's SUV swerved as they tried to get out of the way. One of the trucks clipped the governor's vehicle, sending it careening into a guardrail.
Corzine was not wearing a seat belt and was tossed from the front to the back of the SUV, breaking 15 bones. He spent 18 days in the hospital, eight on a ventilator.
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