Documents: Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes has long history of speeding, careless driving – The Trentonian

TRENTON It was Mercer Countys best-kept secret.

County Executive Brian Hughes has been involved in speeding, careless driving and other motor-vehicle incidents well before his recent traffic escapades as reported by The Trentonian.

The newspaper has already documented three traffic incidents involving the Democratic powerbroker, including one from last summer in Pennsylvania, where a state trooper found Hughes in a very confused mental state along the Pennsylvania Turnpike with his county-issued vehicle abandoned.

Now The Trentonian has obtained heavily redacted records showing Hughes had a careless driving encounter on Aug. 21, 2011, a speeding incident on May 24, 2002, and another speeding incident on May 5, 2000.

The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission provided The Trentonian with a copy of Hughes complete history of driving incidents in the Garden State after the newspaper submitted an Open Public Records Act request seeking this information.

The county executive appears to have been involved in other traffic incidents over the last 20 years, because his drivers history report features numerous redactions of events that may have resulted in points being added to his drivers license.

The MVC redacted several entries from the report, citing privacy grounds.

The Trentonian is considering legal action to compel the MVC to release the report minus unnecessary redactions.

The heavily redacted report shows Hughes has had violation points added to his license for careless driving and speeding and that he subsequently received point reductions for annual safe driving.

The report also shows Hughes was involved in a motor-vehicle accident on Sept. 15, 2003.

As previously reported by The Trentonian, Hughes was not charged or cited in at least three high-profile traffic incidents over the last four years.

According to a police report obtained by The Trentonian, Hughes was involved in what is commonly known as a hit-and-run crash on April 19, 2017. The incident occurred in the customer parking lot of a business off Nassau Street in Princeton.

The report detailed that the suspect vehicle struck a 2012 Hyundai Elantra belonging to an employee of the Craft Cleaners and then left the scene before police arrived.

Hughes, who was a regular customer at the local dry-cleaning business, was later tracked down by the officer after a witness identified him as the driver of the black Ford Taurus that struck the back bumper of the Elantra, which was parked in the customer lot of the Craft Cleaners at 225 Nassau Street.

On Oct. 25, 2017, Hughes backed into a brick wall of the STS Tire and Auto Center on State Road in Princeton while experiencing an altered mental episode, according to another crash report obtained by the newspaper.

After Hughes crashed into the STS, Princeton Police wrote to state driving officials recommending the county executive undergo a driving test and medical exam to ensure he was fit to remain licensed in New Jersey.

Hughes had a third encounter years later with Pennsylvania State Police last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That incident occurred June 1, 2020, when he told a trooper that he was involved in a road race with four others in Paris, France, after he abandoned his county-issued vehicle along the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Harrisburg, according to a police report obtained by The Trentonian.

Pennsylvania State Police has launched an internal affairs investigation to determine whether Hughes who did not undergo a field-sobriety test and was transported to the hospital received preferential treatment in that incident.

Hughes, 64, of Princeton, is the son of former governor and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard J. Hughes.

In recent weeks, the county executives critics pounced on his driving gaffes to suggest Hughes was unfit to lead.

Lisa Richford, the chairwoman of the Mercer County Republican Committee, called for Hughes immediate resignation last week, saying the county executive is unfit to serve because of the unlawful and dangerous driving escapades.

Hughes told the Mercer County Board of Commissioners this week that he would surrender his county-issued vehicle after one commissioner raised potential liability issues.

These instances, while bad and I will certainly agree to that, did not result in any type of major accidents or collisions, he said of his traffic incidents as reported by The Trentonian.

A slate of Republicans running for the Mercer County Board of Commissioners this year have blasted the idea that Hughes should receive a taxpayer-funded driver to safely transport him around town.

The All-Democrat County Commissioners idea of holding Hughes accountable is giving him a chauffeur, the trio of Richard Balgowan, Michael Chianese and Andrew Kotula said Thursday in a press statement, calling that an outrageous plan given the COVID-19 pandemics impact on local businesses and Hughes annual salary of $175,484, which exceeds Gov. Phil Murphys $175K annual salary.

Hughes at the commissioner board meeting Tuesday said he was fully capable of working despite a rare nerve disorder he had attributed to the incidents, among other health issues.

The county executive suffers from trigeminal neuralgia and therefore takes medication that may result in adverse reactions, including confusion, Hughes previously told The Trentonian.

Hughes once experienced cardiac arrest while walking his family dog in Princeton in 2008. He also has talked about his prior struggles with substance abuse, saying he has been sober for decades.

First elected to the county executives seat in 2003, Hughes has left open the possibility that hed run for a sixth term supported by an ELEC or New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission report he filed with the state showing the funds he has in his campaign coffers for a June 2023 Democratic primary for county executive.

Hughes did not answer his phone Thursday when The Trentonian called him seeking comment for this story. Earlier this week he said he was tired of talking to the newspaper about his baggage.

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Documents: Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes has long history of speeding, careless driving - The Trentonian