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US senator fractures his shoulder in rush to vote: ‘It’s called being too responsible’

‘I’m going to survive and I’m one tough son of a b****, so this too will pass’

Shweta Sharma
Thursday 16 December 2021 13:37 GMT
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US Senator Robert Menendez slipped into a subway, fracturing his right shoulder
US Senator Robert Menendez slipped into a subway, fracturing his right shoulder (Reuters)

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Robert Menendez was darting to the US Capitol to reach the Senate floor for a vote on Tuesday when he fell and dislocated his shoulder. But the senator from New Jersey said he’s learnt a ”good lesson” from trying to be “too responsible.”

Mr Menendez slipped at the subway, crashing onto the floor and injuring his right shoulder. “It’s called being too responsible, all to get to the vote and to get to another hearing,” Mr Menendez told NJ News after the injury.

“The hearings will always be there and the votes will always be there. Good lesson." The senator is expected to be on the injury list for six weeks, and might need surgery.

Despite the injury, Mr Menendez walked around with his arm in a sling and made it to the vote in time. He even stopped to talk to a reporter.

“I’m going to survive and I’m one tough son of a b****, so this too will pass,” he said.

This was the second time the senator suffered an accident while rushing to a destination. In 2014, Mr Menendez met with an accident when a taxi hit him as he rushed to catch a train home, according to Roll Call. He survived that accident without serious injuries.

His spokeswoman at that time said his “legs buckled and he fell,” and he “got up and ‘ran’ to the train but it had left”.

Mr Menendez then called his staff to get him so that he could rejoin the Senate floor the next day where a Ukrainian aid package was to be discussed.

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