By Paul Berger
The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
NEWARK, N.J. — As testimony got under way at the Bridgegate trial in federal court on Tuesday, Fort Lee’s chief of police described a clandestine meeting he had in a municipal parking lot with the general manager of the George Washington Bridge on the first day of the lane closures that snarled traffic at the world’s busiest bridge for five mornings in September 2013 and ultimately derailed the presidential hopes of Gov. Chris Christie.
Police chief Keith Bendul said that Port Authority police officers did not respond to his panicked calls for information on Sept. 9, 2013, so he contacted the general manager of the bridge, Robert Durando.
Durando “told me to meet him in the municipal lot, don’t come in the building or on to Port Authority property,” Bendul said.
Bendul told the court that his force of 90 officers was already busy that day dealing with several emergencies, including a missing 4-year-old child. He said that when he met Durando, “it was basically me teeing off on him.”
“I told him bluntly that if anybody died I’m going to tell those people they will have to sue him and everybody at Port Authority,” Bendul said.
Bendul told the court that Durando “seemed afraid” and that he told Bendul if he was asked about the meeting he would deny it ever took place.
Bendul added that Durando told him to tell the mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, to “call Baroni.”
Bill Baroni, 44, and Bridget Anne Kelly, 44, are accused of creating gridlock in Fort Lee over five mornings in September 2013 by closing two out of three access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Their alleged motive was to punish the town’s mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election.
Kelly is the governor’s former deputy chief of staff. Baroni is the governor’s former top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the public agency that owns and operates the bridge.
Christie, just a day into the trial, has already become a central figure in the case. During opening statements, both the prosecution and defense said that Christie new about the lane closures as they were happening.
The governor, who has denied any knowledge of the scandal until months later, was told about the lane closures at a Sept. 11 memorial service at the World Trade Center in 2013, three days into the closures, Prosecutor Vikas Khanna told jurors on Monday. Christie has not addressed the statement.
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