US Man May Be Paralyzed

A man from New York State may be paralyzed for life after being seriously injured during the first day of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

Ray Ducharme, 31, of New York state, was thrown by one of five cows released in a crowd of hundreds of people in a ring after the first of eight days of bull runs. Officials said Ducharme could not move his legs and underwent emergency surgery.

"He is in very serious condition and could be paralyzed for life," said Pello Pellejero, a Pamplona government spokesman. He did not release Ducharme's hometown.

The run began at 8 a.m. when six bulls, each weighing about three-quarters of a ton, stormed out of a corral and chased thousands of runners a half-mile up packed Cuesta Santo Domingo street.

A New Zealand man was gored in the thigh and a Pamplona native fell and was trampled. Five other people suffered minor injuries.

The annual festival has always puzzled me. I know it was a fairly obscure local event until Ernest Hemingway wrote about it. It's also killed 13 people since 1924 (they didn't keep records before that). One would think people would have wised up over the years.