TRENTON, N.J. — It was an ominous tale — an erratic driver in a red pickup racing wildly along the nation’s busiest toll road sends the governor’s sport utility vehicle careening into a guard rail.

But that story, relayed hours after Gov. Jon S. Corzine was critically injured, has been debunked by a new state police report detailing how his driver was dashing with emergency lights flashing at 91 mph in a 65 mph zone. The alleged erratic driver wasn’t a villain but a young man trying to get out of the way of the governor’s onrushing SUV.

Corzine’s driver, State Trooper Robert Rasinski, 34, has also come under scrutiny for allowing the governor to ride without a seat belt, a violation of state law. Corzine remained in critical condition on a ventilator Wednesday with 11 broken ribs and a severely broken leg; Rasinski wore a seat belt and walked away from the crash.

State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes defended his initial praise of the trooper, whom he said “should be commended for his valiant attempt to avoid this catastrophe” immediately after last week’s accident.

“In some respects you have the fog of war there in the beginning,” Fuentes said. “You have a very major event. You have a lot of different variables in that event. The investigation is at its very earliest phase and things are going to change.”

State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said he didn’t know if Rasinski requested Corzine fasten his seat belt, but said a state police review board will decide the trooper’s responsibility for both his driving speed and Corzine’s failure to wear a seat belt.

Rasinski hasn’t returned repeated telephone calls made by the Associated Press, including on Wednesday. He could be disciplined if the board determines the crash was preventable, Fuentes said. Della Fave declined to elaborate on how possible discipline might work.