Arnie 'riding motorcycle illegally'

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle illegally over the weekend when he collided with a car in his Brentwood neighbourhood, police say.

Los Angeles police Lt Paul Vernon said Schwarzenegger did not have the proper motorcycle endorsement on his California driving licence, contradicting statements made by his spokeswoman since Sunday’s accident that left the governor with 15 stitches in his upper lip.

“He does not have the licence,” Vernon said.

Police did not charge the Hollywood actor-turned politician because they arrived after the accident, Vernon said. Police referred their findings to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which will determine whether the governor should be cited for an infraction.

City attorney spokesman Jonathan Diamond said the office had not received the LAPD report.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, acting on initial information on Sunday, said the governor’s basic Class C licence allowed him to ride the motorcycle with its sidecar attached. His 12-year-old son, Patrick, was riding in the sidecar but was not injured.

Tom Marshall, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said CHP officials reached the same conclusion as Thompson after checking the state Vehicle Code.

“We’re not criticising the LAPD,” he said after learning of the department’s finding. “We haven’t seen the report. … But that’s how we read the Vehicle Code as applying.”

The LAPD had no immediate response to the CHP statement, said officer Sara Faden, a police department spokeswoman.

Schwarzenegger, a Harley Davidson owner who rides regularly with friends along the California coast, said yesterday that he never bothered to obtain a California motorcycle licence because he “never thought about it”.

“I just never really applied for it,” he said, responding to a reporter’s question during a state budget briefing. “It was just one of those things that I never really did.”

Schwarzenegger collided with a car while riding his motorcycle with his son near his Los Angeles home.

In a statement issued after the LAPD’s announcement, Thompson said the governor “will move forward to get the appropriate endorsement”.

To get an M-1 or M-2 endorsement, a motorcycle rider must pass a Department of Motor Vehicle skills test or take a motorcycle training course from a programme approved by the California Highway Patrol.

Driving a motorcycle without the proper licence is an offence that can result in fines ranging from £56 (€81) to £140 (€204) or more.

Schwarzenegger said he had a motorcycle licence when he lived in Europe, but never thought about getting another one after he immigrated to the US in 1968.

Schwarzenegger was asked about his lack of a proper motorcycle licence on the same day that Democratic state Senator Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles reintroduced his bill to allow illegal immigrants to get California driver’s licences. Schwarzenegger has vetoed that bill twice.