Apr 22, 2007 10:11 pm US/Eastern
NJ Cop Hopes He Didn't Cause Corzine's Crash
NEWARK (CBS/AP) ―
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Detective-Sgt. Michael Mathis sent a message to Gov. Corzine's Driver shortly before the crash.
CBS
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A Berkeley Heights police officer who was angrily e-mailing the state trooper driving Governor Corzine's SUV shortly before it crashed, said he hopes the messages meant to confront the man having an affair with his wife didn't cause the wreck.
State police investigators are trying to find out if one of Detective-Sgt. Michael Mathis' messages was seen by trooper Robert Rasinski just before the crash, possibly through the use of a BlackBerry, and if it had an effect on Rasinski's state of mind.
Mathis posted messages in The Star-Ledger of Newark's Web forum saying that he sent Rasinki an e-mail with a photo of himself, his wife and their children just minutes before the April 12 crash occurred, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions.
"I hope it didn't cause the crash," Mathis wrote in the forum, "but no man in his right mind could have been thinking clearly with the affair exposed."
Mathis confirmed to the newspaper that he had posted the comments.
When contacted by telephone Sunday by the Associated Press, Mathis declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Corzine remained in critical but stable condition Sunday at Camden's Cooper University Hospital and began a regular diet for the first time since the accident, according to Dr. Steven Ross.
Ross also said Corzine's signs of tracheo-bronchitis were being treated with antibiotics.
"He continues to improve and the doctors are pleased with his progress," Ross said.
Mathis, 40, also wrote in the forums that he first contacted Rasinski on April 10 in a phone call and over the next two days exchanged text messages with the trooper. He told the newspaper that he learned a month ago that his wife, 36-year-old Susan Mathis, was carrying on a 2 1/2 year tryst with Rasinski.
State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes confirmed late Friday that investigators are looking into an unspecified "allegation" against the trooper.
David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, denied that Rasinski had a BlackBerry at the time of the crash.
"There wasn't any distraction," Jones told the newspaper. "They (the investigators) asked all of these questions in a taped interview. That's part of the standard protocols."
"There's absolutely no merit to this allegation," he said. "There's nothing here other than an understandably aggrieved, soon-to-be ex-husband putting something forward that is totally without merit, and it's a sin."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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