By James W. Prado Roberts
Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)
Copyright 2007 Asbury Park Press
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
Medevac arrival time was not a factor in Gov. Corzine’s April 12 motor vehicle accident on the Garden State Parkway, according to State Police.
The State Police’s SouthSTAR air ambulance landed at the scene about 13 minutes before the governor was ready for transport to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Rescue crews on the ground had to carefully extract the governor from the wreckage of his black SUV, according to State Police.
“They were waiting 20 minutes for Corzine to get cut out of the car,” said State Police Capt. Al Della Fave.
SouthSTAR was dispatched to fly 34 miles to pick up the seriously injured governor, even though a private medevac helicopter with the Atlantic City Medical Center was just 17 miles away. Had it lifted off at the same time SouthSTAR did, it could have been at the scene 5 1/2 minutes sooner, according to typical cruise speeds provided by both operators.
But 13 minutes after SouthSTAR reported arriving, it radioed that “we are loading (the governor) now, we should be airborne shortly.”
Regardless of which craft was dispatched, “either ship would have been sitting waiting,” Della Fave said.