Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rang in the New Year in a Las Vegas hospital after he suffered injuries while exercising at home, his office said Friday.
Reid, D-Nev., was working out Thursday when a piece of equipment he was using ‘broke, causing him to fall and break a number of ribs and bones in his face,’ according to a statement from Reid’s Nevada office.
Reid struck part of the equipment as he fell and broke several bones near his right eye, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson told The Las Vegas Sun. He broke his ribs as he hit the floor, Jentleson told the newspaper.
He was taken by his security detail to St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, Nev., then transferred to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas where he was kept overnight for testing and observation.
‘Senator Reid has been discharged from the University Medical Center hospital in Las Vegas and is headed to his home in Henderson,’ Kristen Orthman, Reid’s deputy communications director said in a statement Friday. ‘He will return to Washington this weekend to be ready for the Senate to convene on Tuesday. He spent the day with his wife, Landra, talking to fellow senators, friends and staff and preparing for the Senate's return. He sends his thanks to all those who sent warm wishes and is ready to get back to work.’
When the 114th Congress convenes Tuesday Reid will become the Senate minority leader and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will become the new majority leader of the Republican-controlled chamber.
Thursday marked the second time that Reid, 75, has had an exercise-related mishap. In 2011, he injured his shoulder and suffered a black eye when he slipped and fell during a morning run on a rain-slicked Washington day.
In 2012, he suffered hip and rib bruises when his motorcade vehicle was struck in a chain-reaction crash on Nevada’s Interstate 15.