Rahway mayor involved in crash, driving with expired license

RAHWAY - In the early hours of Friday, Aug. 26, Mayor Samson Steinman struck a car parked on Central Avenue while driving with an expired license, according to a city police report.

At 5:38 a.m., Rahway police responded to a crash involving a gray Honda Accord parked on the side of the street and a white Dodge Durango, driven by Steinman. The car Steinman was driving is owned by the city, according to the report.

Steinman said that he was driving on Central Avenue approaching Pierpont Street when "an animal ran in front of his vehicle," the report said. He then "swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid the animal, which is when he struck" the parked car.

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He was charged with driving with an expired license, the police report said. The charge has a minimum fine of $0 but carries a maximum penalty of $500, according to the state's website.

The city car Steinman was driving was towed from the scene, the report said.

Steinman became mayor after Rick Proctor resigned, then was re-elected in November 2014. Before that, he ran the state Motor Vehicle Commission office in Rahway, formerly served as executive director of the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway and was the former borough administrator in Bound Brook.

Although Steinman did not respond with comment, Rahway Business Administrator Cherron Rountree said. "Unfortunately, frequently we have accidents with city vehicles and this was unfortunately an accident swerving to not try to hit an animal," adding that this was the first time the mayor was in an accident involving a city vehicle.

As for the animal in the road, the mayor did not know what it was, according to Rountree.

"I've had a conversation with him about it," she said. "He didn't know exactly what type of animal it was. It was not a deer, it was a smaller animal than that, but he didn't know what kind it was."

The night before the accident was the final concert of the Mayor's Summer Concert Series, which consisted of four free outdoor concerts organized by Steinman and the Rahway City Council.

The mayor was at the concert, Rountree said.

"He was at every single Mayor's Concert," she added.

The accident probably occurred when the mayor was making his rounds throughout the city, she said.

"He's often out, you know, around investigating things in the city, making sure things are in order in the city," she said. "He's out all the time, and oftentimes in a city vehicle, just kind of seeing what's going on in the city."

The damage to the Durango that Steinman was driving is unknown.

"Specifically, I can't tell you off the top of my head," she said. "I know that our in-house mechanics are working on the vehicle."

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com