I received the following email today, which includes a transcript of his press conference:
Dear Friends,
I want to thank all of you who have expressed your concern and support for me, my wife Tammy and our family, since my serious car accident in November. I am forever grateful that I was uninjured and that no one else was involved or hurt. I have accepted responsibility for the accident and I will pay the fines and reimburse the Commonwealth for the value of the car.
Throughout this matter, I have asked for no special treatment. I wanted the Massachusetts State Police to do their job, as they would in any similar case, and they have. At my request they went beyond normal procedure and released the so-called black box data, which is not ordinarily retrieved in accidents like mine.
I understand that when a public figure is in any kind of accident people want to know how it happened. Unfortunately, false rumors and wild speculation can result even when the details of the matter have been released to the public. Because you have been a friend, I want to give you the background on the accident, so you get the full picture directly from me.
On the night before the accident, I came home from Boston around 8:30 pm., dropped off by my State Police detail. I helped Tammy put our daughters to bed, and I turned in around 11p.m. that night. Around two or three in the morning, I awoke when our five-year-old daughter crawled into bed with us. From that point on, I was unable to get back to sleep. Around quarter of five I gave up trying to sleep and decided to take a drive, get a coffee and a paper and prepare for the day.
This was not my first early morning drive. I’ve done it often ever since I was Mayor in Worcester. That morning I decided to get on Route 190, which is a few miles from my house. I did so to get a sense of the storm and power damage in the aftermath of the surprise snow storm that had just hit much of the state.
I drove up as far as Route 2, turned around to head back to Worcester, and what I remember next was the vehicle being off the road, the impact of the collision, and the car turning over several times. During this ride I did not meet anyone, or make any phone calls, texts or emails. Also, the black box data showed that the car had been running for 42.5 minutes before the accident, which is consistent with the route I had traveled.
When I got out of the car, there was snow on the ground and ice along the road. I heard the first responders talking about the black ice on the road. The accident happened in a matter of seconds. I was shaken-up, and not really knowing how it occurred, I assumed the ice must have caused the accident. In light of the black box data and police report, my assumption was incorrect. I believe I nodded off while driving and the car ran off the road.
Last Tuesday, after the State Police released the black box data, I called a press conference at the State House. All the major media outlets were there, and I answered their questions. At the end of this letter I have included the full transcript from that press conference, so you can read it for yourself.
This traumatic accident has been a difficult chapter, but I am thankful for the support I’ve received from so many. Looking ahead, there is a lot of important work still to be done to keep our Commonwealth moving forward during these challenging times, and I will continue to work hard in that regard.
Sincerely,
Tim Murray
TRANSCRIPT: Tim Murray Press Conference
Massachusetts State House, Tuesday, January 03, 2012 – 2:30pm
Q 1: At 108 mph that is really almost reckless driving or driving to endanger. Don’t you think you should be cited for that criminally?
A: The speed is frightening to me. As I said, this happened within seconds and I believe, as I said, I fell asleep. As I said from the outset, I will let the State Police do their job and make their findings.Q 2: With all due respect, it seems like your original version of what happened is now falling apart.
A: Well Mike, this accident happened within seconds and I have never been in an accident like that. I stood before many of you that morning a few hours after what I think is pretty traumatic accident and answered the questions as best as I could and I accept the State Police findings and will take responsibility for thoseQ 3: You said you weren’t speeding and also that you were wearing a seat belt.
A: As I said, I wasn’t totally sure of my speed. I did say I was wearing my seatbelt. My recollection is I was wearing my seatbelt, after I walked away from my accident I certainly thought I was wearing my seatbelt, but again, I am going to accept responsibility.Q 4: Can the voters trust you anymore after the circumstances of the crash and now this?
A: Well I’ve been in elected office for 14 years and I think I have had a track record of making good decisions and sometimes tough decisions. Certainly people may have their questions. All I can say is, this is what happened. I am thankful to be alive.Q 5: Has the data from the breathalyzer test that you said you took at the scene of the accident been made public yet?
A: You will have to ask the State Police.Q 6: To the best of your recollection has it been made public and if it hasn’t, would you like to ask them to make it release that?
A: I don’t know if they have released that or if you have asked for it, but I have no problem with that. Again, I want to be respectful of whatever their policies or protocols are.Q 7: You did not take the breathalyzer at the Barracks or at the Hospital, is that correct?
A: I requested a breathalyzer at the scene, yes.Q 8: But you didn’t go to the Barracks to get the test that would go directly in the case (inaudible)?
A: No, I asked for a breathalyzer at the scene.Q 9: Why did you say black ice and do you have no recollection of nodding off?
A: I don’t. This happened very quickly. I think the data says a matter of seconds. My recollection is that after the car stopped rolling I realized I was okay. I got out of the car, it was snowy conditions, I walked up to the side of the road, there were icy conditions there and as first responders came to the scene they commented on the black ice and warned each other of the slippery conditions, so I assumed that is what caused my accident.Q 10: Did you receive special preferential treatment in the handling of this case that anyone else in the Commonwealth would not have been treated in the same way?
A: No, throughout this I have asked for no special treatment. I proactively asked for a breathalyzer. Later, I said I am going to let the State Police handle this. When there was a question if this was a public record made by the Secretary of State I asked them to deviate from their normal policies and procedures (and release the information). They ordinarily only access this information when there is a fatality or serious injury, which did not happen here. So I proactively asked for it after the Secretary of State made the preliminary ruling and that information is with you.Q 11: Is this why you didn’t push to have the data released right away?
A: No it isn’t. I didn’t want to ask the State Police to deviate from a policy that they have had in place for a long period of time. When the question came up about this being a public record I asked that it be released.Q 12: Are there any cell phone records or email records from the date of the accident?
A: I know that there is a request in with the Chief Legal Counsel and I will let him handle that request but I can tell you I was not on the phone, I was not texting and I was not emailing anybody.Q 13: (Inaudible – something about storm damage being difficult to see)
A: Listen, you know I had headlights. Being from Western Mass, you understand the magnitude of the Nor’easter that hit the state. You could certainly see limbs down, you could get a sense of the power situation and I guess it was a bad habit of a former mayor going out and taking a look at things.Q 14: Anything else you would like to get off your chest about the crash?
A: I feel badly that this has happened. It has been a distraction to the work that I do and hopefully we can put this to rest and move forward.Q 15: You said you weren’t texting or emailing, but when the crash first happened you made statements about things that you believed to be the case. Why make these statements when you just said that you weren’t sure what happened?
A: I can tell you I was not on the phone, I was not emailing, I was not texting. I know that. I can tell you that. It is not something I ordinarily do in the car while driving and you’ll have to take my word for it.Q 16: Were you really particularly tired when you got behind the wheel that morning and was that a smart decision?
A: In hindsight, it wasn’t. But I woke up at some point, for those of you that have kids I have a 5-year-old daughter that at some point crawled into bed. I woke up, couldn’t get back to sleep, tried to, then got up and went out.Q 17: But were you feeling tired when you got behind the wheel?
A: I can’t remember specifically.Q 18: On the issue of falling asleep, we talked to an expert who says accelerating is actually not consistent with falling asleep, so I’m just wondering from your perspective, do you remember falling asleep? What do you remember?
A: As I said, this happened in seconds and as I said I think this is what happened and I am going to take responsibility for it.Q 19: But do you think that is what happened because the State Police suggested that as a possibility or do you actually believe that is what happened?
A: I believe that is what happened, it’s the only explanation.Q 20: And what do you say about going 108 and not wearing a seatbelt to the citizens of the Commonwealth?
A: As I said, this was an accident, it happened within seconds. I think if you look at the data, the rate of speed for the route that I traveled show that for the majority of that route I was going a reasonable speed. This was an unfortunate accident.Q 21: Do you normally wear your seatbelt?
A: I normally do and walking away from that accident I assumed that I did.Q 22: Do you recall if you put on a seatbelt when you got in the car?
A: I believed that I did.Q 23: Had you been drinking at all, bringing up the breathalyzer question but without the release of that, had you been drinking at all?
A: I had nothing to drink. I took the breathalyzer expecting this question and I assure you that I had nothing to drink.Q 24: Can you tell us what you were doing the night before and how much sleep you got?
A: I just explained to you, I was home at 8:30, I said I went to bed a few hours after the kids went to bed and woke up at some point.
I am glad Tim Murray sent this email to his friends and supporters. He is a good and honest man. In the cynical times we live in it is hard to get the whole story from the media: newspapers and TV compete through shock headlines and bad news to attract readers and viewers. Politicians and celebrities are among the best targets for marketing value. Added to that, there will always be the grassy knoll crowd (for whom the simple, boring truth is never enough) and political adversaries (who will take any opportunity to diminish another to advance themselves or get back at someone else)…makes one wonder why anyone would want to run and serve in office today…it’s a shame because we need more people like Murray, not less.
As longtime BMGers know, I supported Murray when he first ran for Lt. Gov. and worked hard for his election. I would do it again today. Over the years, I have met and gotten to know hundreds of politicians at the local, county, state and congressional level. I learned long ago how to separate the “truly good” from the “appears to be good”, the ones who are in it to accomplish good things for people from the ones who are in it for their own aggrandizement. And I take not a nano-second hesitation in assuring those of you who do not know him well that Tim Murray is among the very best I have known in politics. I take him at his word because his word is and always has been good as gold.
I have known and supported Tim Murray since he was a Worcester City Councilor. Tim is honest, straight forward and one of the best grounded elected officials I have ever met.
He had a car accident – it’s called an accident for just that reason – some mistake (tired, icy, thinking about his kids, whatever) and it happens in a second.
Tim answered the questions, apparently having to answer the same question several times because a reporter from the Herald just couldn’t figure out how to spin Tim’s first 3 answers.
Massachusetts is lucky to have Tim Murray as an elected official. The voters have agreed with that opinion several times.
And I have to agree with hlpeary -Tim Murray’s word is the gold standard in politics.
Why was he wearing his pajamas (as well as shoes with no socks)?
Why did he not have the coffee he went out to get? Are there no DD’s in Worcester? When I am looking for coffee I can find one in under 5 minutes in MA.
Why inspect damage on the highway? Wouldn’t a town or Worcester itself been more representative? The damage was ice (not a tornado) so it was pretty much the same everywhere.
Who gets up (because he can’t sleep) and then falls asleep an hour later while driving? Maybe it was driving at high speed while in icy conditions that lulled him to dreamland.
I don’t see how Murray has “opponents” on this. Citizens in MA just want to know if their LG has a drug problem, is suicidal, or is engaged in middle of the night activities that call into question his character.
merrimackguy…all of your questions illustrate just what I am talking about…you don’t accept the truth of the matter because you just can’t image that a person (you clearly don’t know) would do anything that you wouldn’t do or act as you would act in a similar situation…so you climb up the grassy knoll and post purposefully charged questions to keep the circus going…the “Citizens of MA” whom you purport to represent have better things to worry about…So let me reiterate what I think you already know but want to ask for whatever your reason: Murray has no drug problem, is not suicidal, is not engaged in middle of the night activities that your sad mind imagines. But, you are not really interested in the boring truth…maybe it’s just a slow day at work for you, whatever.
He told you why. Why do you have to ask again? Why does he have to answer again?
Who says he didn’t? I’m assuming the styrofoam/paper/plastic cup fared much worse than the car and the contents even worse….
Because a Mayor, and a Lt Gov, has to worry, in a bad storm with lotsa damage and major power outages, about whether or no the National Guard can get into the city or the citizens can get out…. Honestly, if I was Lt Gov, the highway system would be the first thing I think about if I have to call in the NG.
I do. I don’t presently own a car, so I go for walks. But when I owned a car an early morning drive was often quite enjoyable. My father had the same habit.
I don’t know about you, but people who’ve long worked early morning jobs are often early risers and don’t generally stay in bed past a certain time…. It just doesn’t feel right.
The speed is likely a red herring. The black box, or more importantly the speedometer to which the box is linked, likely doesn’t measure true car speed but either tire rotation speed or the speed of the transmission/engine. I’m fairly positive the speeds never exceeded 50 or 60 mph, but that the ice and spinning tires combined to give a false reading on the speedo and/or the black box. I don’t think the car achieved a speed of 108 mph. I’ve driven that section of rte 190 many many times and there are few straightaways long enough to get up to that speed… And if he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, as the staties allege, then a 108 mph crash means he’d be dead, not walking away… the seatbelts are designed to work in tandem with the airbag, and the airbag deploying without a seatbelt can quite often be fatal.
This is what people are saying. There’s even crazier stuff but I left that out. It’s all too weird.
How can you just blanket say there’s nothing there? Were you in the car?
I don’t think the “grassy knoll” analogy holds true.
Would you say maybe “some people just wanted to steal some office equipment from the Dem’s HQ in Watergate” and it should have stopped there?
you hit the nail on the head, I was thinking Watergate too, there’s a lot more to this, it could go all the way to the top.
I would like to take a vote of regular folks on this board on an number of questions like:
1. Do you drive in your pajamas?
2. Do you drive 40 minutes to get a cup of coffee?
etc to see if they are more similar to Murry or me in this regard.
.
Every person has their own routines and habits and no vote is necessary…My YMCA opens at 5 AM. I live 2 towns over. I put on my sweats (I don’t call them pajamas) and sneakers (I have heat in the car, no need for socks) on, leave at 4:50 AM and drive the 20 minutes it takes to get there. I do that 3 days a week. By the time I do the 20 minute ride back home, my local DD is finally open and I get coffee in my own town. If I ever nod off on the way and flip over a couple of times on the highway, it will probably make the police blotter and I hope they don’t say I was wearing my pajamas, sockless and out in the middle of the night up to no good!
1. Yes. Nearly once a week to drop the kids off at CCD on Sunday morning, which is before I am showered or dressed for the day.
2. Depends on whether I wish to get coffee and return home, or have more to do besides getting coffee.
At this point, if I vote for someone else over Murray in some future election it will be for more substantive reasons. (And that’s purely hypothetical too.)
As for coffee and peejays, I think that life, and other people, and everything but me and thee, are weird. None of this adds up to anything I should care about, apparently.
I’ve known Tim Murray for close to twenty years. He is a dedicated public servant who has always worked hard for the the people of the Commonwealth. As people have said, it was an accident. I continue to be grateful that the LG was not seriously injured.
I’m sure Mike McLaughlin could rustle up a few quotes on short notice. Or Sheiff DiPaola…. “until he shot himself under threat of investigation, he was a dedicated public servant and a great guy.”
Or up my way, you can always find Lawrencians to talk about what a great guy Mayor Lantigua is.
It would be really useful right now.
“O” and “thumbs down” would indeed come in handy right now…nuf said.
crismatth- maybe you could give me a 🙁
to what an honest person the LG is, rather than just having people post personal opinions.
To me, anyway. I wondered the same thing.
Even if he fell asleep with his head tilting backward instead of forward, his foot would have to put more pressure on the gas (and stay on the gas). It’s certainly possible, but it seems like accelerating to 108 would take more effort than a sleeping foot would exert. Bear in mind the wheel would be abandoned and the car would be turning, so his weight would shift a little … odd.
But I’m glad he’s OK, glad no one else got hurt, and glad he’s being more forthright about this.
Using others logic on this thread, just because you yourself have never casually (which is how you must be doing it when you’re asleep) pushed an accelerator to where your car was going 108, doesn’t mean it’s all that unusual.
There are so many things odd with this story. I am only pointing out the simplest.
We’re all happy the LG is okay (which is nothing short of a miracle, all you heathens) considering the state of the car.
You’re wife’s name is Tammy?
Timmy and Tammy?
Where did you guys meet? Swim class?
“swimming lessons” would have been the better phrase then “swim class” in above comment. Gives more of a visual of the little tykes.
I wrote “then” instead of “than”.
YES I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!!!!
But I keep typing in “then” than “than”.
Pisses me off.
‘then” rather than “than”
derp
eb3 fka!!!…we were counting on you to tell us who is really driving these stories…you are the most politically connected of the BMG group and always seem to know who is actually behind these character assassinations… Springfield former mayor Mike Albano posted his own ideas about that (mayormike.com/WordPress/?p=23) today…I can agree with part of it but I think it goes beyond one paper… the media and GOP cheerleaders are the usual suspects…but, sad to say, it seems a few ambitious Dems are culpable, too…what do you think?
Clearly
How does he explain the pajamas and the lack of socks?
Tim Murray already explained them. He got up, went out expecting to get a coffee, go for a drive and return. Simple as that and not, in any way, implausible in the least.
I would not be caught in pajamas. I get dressed before going out in the morning because I don’t wear pajamas to bed. Socks neither. But that’s just me. I was grocery shopping the other day and noted three separate people with some combination of pajamas, flip-flops, no socks. Also saw somebody wearing shorts and crocs. Temp was < 20 degrees.
So, who are you to say pajamas in public isn't de rigeur?
but if you call sweats pajamas and wear them to work out, each to his own i guess…nice try, Merri-guy…Albano has his own opinion, I think it’s broader than that…otherwise, why would some people keep insisting on spreading false rumors, like people “wearing pajamas” and even worse, going without socks in a heated car!!! Deplorable!
BUT NOT IN THE MIDDLE OR JUST AFTER AN ICE/SNOW STORM.
I would be wearing jeans and boots, and socks for sure.
AND MAYBE IF I WAS ONLY GETTING COFFEE (I live right in a town) I MIGHT JUST MIGHT DO IT, BUT I WOULD BE BACK HOME IN 10 MINUTES, NOT DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE.
Whatever. You have guys given new meaning to the phrase apologists. You can mention any wackos outfits you see but this guy is the seemingly straight-laced LG.
We’ll just have to wait for the rest of this to come out.
You’re not the Lt Gov.
You’re not in day 4 of a 7 day power outage with downed power lines and freezing citizens. I live in Leominster, at one end of 190. and I was out of power from Saturday the 29th of October until the 2nd of November.
Maybe, just maybe, he had a lot on his mind and was worried about the possiblity…. the very real possiblity… of people freezing to death in unpowered homes after 5 days of early winter storms…. You might remember it. It was in all the papers. We even discussed it here on BMG.
Don’t leave the light on for me.
Maybe, just maybe Bob DeLeo was concerned about the prospects of working people in MA and despite his reservations he decided we needed casinos. He also looked out over the commonwealth and determined that people were suffering in East Boston and Revere, and they needed relief above others.
108 is REALLY fast.
I think the fastest I’ve driven is 85, and that felt too fast. 108 is flying down the road. Whatever the reason, he was driving recklessly.
Or his wheels were spinning furiously on ice. The black box can’t tell the difference. As Petr has pointed out, the speed is measured by how fast a wheel is turning, and the wheels are turning very fast when the vehicle is spinning its wheels.
The black-box data shows Mr. Murray’s Crown Victoria accelerating (the black line) from 90 to 100 MPH in under 1 sec (4 intervals). Performance testing of similar vehicles suggests that a Crown Victoria (with a MAJOR powerplant) requires 12.64-13.01 seconds to accelerate from 60 to 100 MPH. One fourth of that interval (from 90-100 MPH) corresponds to no less than 3 seconds.
I don’t think it was possible for Tim Murray’s Crown Victoria to accelerate from 90 to 100 MPH in less than 1 second. Something is wrong with the data, and I think Petr is right on the money.
On the graph, there are five lines, but only four listed in the key
Black with triangles is vehicle speed
Green with blocks is percentage accelerator pedal
Red with circles is brake switch
Blue with upside down triangles is ABS
What does the orange line with circles represent?
However, I think 90-100 might be a quicker trip than 60-100 divided by four, especially if the car has already been accelerating.
But again, this thesis seems to rest on a sophisticated piece of equipment being wrong. Possible, sure, but something is missing in the story. Maybe the LG just doesn’t know.
Acceleration is the change in speed divided by the time. A sharp (more than three times — 3 sec compared to 0.8) increase in acceleration would require a correspondingly sharp increase in force, yet there is no indication of that.
Please note, I am not saying that the “sophisticated piece of equipment” is “wrong” — I’m saying that it’s correctly-reported data is being interpreted incorrectly. It is telling us that the wheels were spinning.
There is NO WAY a Crown Victoria could display the claimed acceleration. No way.
He was on a straight-away, he was already doing 85, he wanted to get home, the road was clear, so he punched it to see if he could hit 100, and left off the gas right at 100 but also right at 100, the ABS kicked in, and that combination jerked the car off the road. Why did the ABS kick in at 100? Isn’t it unsafe to suddenly apply the brakes when the driver isn’t expecting it? I think we should look into that.
What is so hard about this?
HE WAS NOT GOING 100 MPH. His wheels were spinning at a rate that corresponds to 100 MPH, nothing more, nothing less.
The indicated acceleration is impossible for a Crown Victoria and is explained ONLY by slipping wheels. The damage to the vehicle is consistent with an 85, rather than 108 MPH, crash (remember that crash damage is caused by kinetic energy and is proportional to the SQUARE of the velocity. A 40 MPH crash is FOUR, not two, times as severe as a 20 MPH crash). The difference between 85 and 108 is huge.
The ABS didn’t “kick in”, he floored the brake pedal. He may well have been trying to floor the brake pedal when he hit the accelerator, it happens frequently in car crashes (especially if he, like many drivers, has the bad habit of using his left foot for the brake and his right for the accelerator). Flooring the brake pedal is EXACTLY CORRECT when you want to stop an ABS-equipped vehicle as quickly as possible.
I must confess that I am mystified by the red “brake switch” indicator. As far as I know, we aren’t told what “active” and “inactive” means on the blue ABS graph. Does 100% active mean that the brake pedal is floored, the wheels are spinning, and the ABS system is removing 100% of the braking force? If so, then it further supports the spinning wheels conclusion.
I am truly amazed at how some of us so easily dismiss hard data right in front of us, and instead go off on cockamamie flights of speculative fantasy.
I remember driving on the 4th day after the storm and you would still come upon branches and debris in the road, sometimes with a warning cone and sometimes not. It was a time to be at high alert while driving, most certainly at night. I would not have gone out to explore the damage at night for sure; it was just too dangerous. But then, that’s me. So people are different and do different things. Hopefully it’s nothing and we don’t get any more news about it that differs from the current statements. I am very glad that he survived this crash and that no-one else was hurt. That’s the most unbelievable thing of all.
In December 2008, we had an ice storm in Worcester County that created absolutely horrific damage. Downed trees took out power lines, and people lost power– and heat– for weeks. The storm and the recovery from it got 5 seconds of TV coverage and 1/4 column inches in the Globe, which is understandable since more people ride the T than lost power in Central Massachusetts.
Fitchburg’s utility, Unitil, was peculiarly inept and slow at responding to the problem. They gave out poor information, and failed to get enough crews working at repair, and early on, didn’t work crews around the clock.
The Halloween storm created similar damage. I’m pretty sure that when he says he was “going to check out the storm damage” he means he was going to Fitchburg to make sure Unitil had crews out working, and wasn’t trying to save on overtime, again. When I saw the first news report that he was on 190, this was my first thought; I’m sure many others in Worcester County thought exactly the same.
That is what we in Worcester have come to expect him to do, which is why we like him so much, even when we disagree with him.