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No Charges in Schwarzenegger Cycle Crash
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's weekend motorcycle crash left him with a fat lip and a political black eye, but he won't be charged with a driving violation, officials said Wednesday. Schwarzenegger was on his Harley-Davidson, with his 12-year-old son in a sidecar, when he collided Sunday with a car on a winding canyon road. Police said he was driving without a license, but the city attorney declined to file any charges after reviewing the accident report. "The city attorney will not file any charges," said Officer Grace Brady, a police spokeswoman. Even though police concluded he was unlicensed, the department "cannot go back and cite the governor because we did not witness the driving." The low-speed accident turned into a political embarrassment for the governor, who acknowledged he had driven a motorcycle for years without the proper license. He told reporters he "never thought about it."
Story Continues Below Prosecutors decided not to get involved because it was a minor matter that would have only resulted in a traffic ticket, said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. "It is not something handled by this office," Diamond said. The celebrity governor needed 15 stitches to close a gash above his lip. Although Los Angeles police have concluded the governor was driving illegally, the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Highway Patrol maintain that because his motorcycle had a sidecar attached when he crashed, it was legal for Schwarzenegger to operate it with just the standard driver's license that he holds. A standard license for driving a car cannot be used to operate a motorcycle, but according to DMV spokesman Mike Miller the relevant sections of state law make no mention of a motorcycle with a sidecar. Miller said that means Schwarzenegger was operating within the law when he crashed.
"From our perspective, there is no violation," Miller said. In 2001, Schwarzenegger broke six ribs and was hospitalized four days after a motorcycle crash in Los Angeles. A car stopped in front of him and he was unable to avoid hitting it. The governor's office did not respond to questions Wednesday about the license. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said the office was busy working on budget and economic-development issues.
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