Governor feels ‘blessed’ to recover after crash

? Gov. Jon S. Corzine, speaking publicly for the first time since he was seriously injured in an automobile crash two weeks ago, said Thursday that he feels blessed.

Sitting in a chair next to his bed, Corzine appeared in good spirits as he posed for his first public photographs since the April 12 crash on the Garden State Parkway.

“I’m the most blessed person who ever lived,” Corzine said in his hospital room.

Corzine, 60, was riding in the front passenger seat without a seat belt when his sport utility vehicle, driven by a state trooper at 91 mph, crashed near Atlantic City. Aides have said he is not likely to resume the duties of his job while in the hospital.

The governor badly fractured his left thigh and broke 11 ribs, his breastbone, collarbone and a vertebra. He underwent three operations, and an inserted metal rod stabilizes his leg.