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Nick Bollea can drive in California

News Channel 8 file photo

Nick Bollea served jail time for the Aug. 26, 2007, wreck that left his sole passenger, John Graziano, with brain damage.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 9, 2009

Updated: 04/09/2009 08:25 am

Nick Bollea can drive in California after all, and with no strings attached.

When Bollea, 18. was sentenced last year in an Aug. 26, 2007, wreck that left his sole passenger, John Graziano, with brain damage, a Pinellas circuit judge revoked Bollea's driver's license for three years – or until May 2011.

Then Bollea, the son of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, was given a so-called hardship license, which allows Bollea to drive to and from work and to and from school in Florida.

When news surfaced in late January or early February that Bollea was given permission by the state Department of Corrections to move to California, officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles said they would honor the judge's three-year revocation, but not the hardship license.

Apparently, they expected to see that Bollea's license had been revoked for three years when they looked into a national registry database after Bollea applied for a license in California. But that's not what happened when Bollea applied for a California license in the last couple of weeks, said Bollea's attorney, Kevin Hayslett.

What they saw was that Bollea had a valid Florida driver's license. In the national registry, technical restrictions that may apply to a particular state – that a driver needs to wear eyeglasses, for instance, or that a driver can drive only to and from work – don't appear. The only thing that appears is whether a driver has a license or not, and Bollea does.

Mike Marando, a spokesman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, confirmed late Wednesday that Bollea can drive in California without any restrictions.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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